The Rise of the Allfathers
by Eat Cheese Everyday
Summary: (AU) The legendary tale as to how the three Allfathers took over Omega from Aria T'loak is a mystery to most. This story reveals how three very different men from different walks of life joined forces to become the most feared pirates in the Galaxy. Follow Shepard, Garrus and Atlas (OC) in their epic quest against the Reapers using unorthodox and roguish methods. Pairings inside.
1. Judgement day

**(A/N) This is my first ever fan-fiction story so please, please be lenient. The story will feature a Paragade male Shepard. Set straight after the events of Mass Effect 1. There will also be a character of my own creation (Atlas) in the story in order to influence the 'grey' Shepard on to the path laid out for him. This is NOT a self-insertion. I shall explain more as we go through the story. Eventual pairings include Garrus/Elnora, M Shepard/any woman you vote for. Sorry, no slash. (I'll let you vote on Shepard's partner in the reviews), and Aria/Atlas. Contains four main protagonists, Points of view will change throughout the story.**

Disclaimer: This is a non-profit story, all rights to Bioware except for Atlas; he's mine.

"Speech" 'Thoughts'

_Shepard's P.O.V._

_Alliance Centre of Justice, New York 15:36_

Shepard had never been as angry as he was now. Apparently a hard working life of long-term service and loyalty in the alliance combined with the ever-burning sense of duty to serve his kind gets him a jail sentence.

Ambassador Udina stood in the judge's seat atop the tall dais that dominated the large courtroom. It was filled with guards, reporters and large shelves full of jurors and Alliance officials. Udina's voice boomed throughout the room due to the surround-sound speakers. "Commander Shepard. It is through the just and unbiased opinion of the jury that you are indeed guilty of all crimes you have been accused of. These charges consist of treason, insubordination, organised conspiracy and lastly, cowardice. Therefore, this trial is hereby adjourned; you will be sent to Coldharbour correctional facility for 25 years and fined 250,000 credits. Do you have anything to say?"

Shepard stood up, a murderous glint in his eye, and a whirlwind of hatred at the back of his throat. "THIS IS BULLSHIT!" the sound of his voice nearly made the Ambassador shit his pants, never the less he kept, or tried to keep his cool composure. "You know very well I had no choice but to steal the Normandy to travel to Ilos to stop Saren from reawakening the reapers! And you know god-damn well that I had to order the Alliance fleet to protect the council!

Shepard could hardly believe the looks of disgust being lathered all over him. Why the hell can't they see that he was doing something for the good of the Alliance?

"I had to protect the dreadnought and the council because that is what the Alliance stands for! To defend our allies! The council! Or did what we stand for change when I wasn't looking?!

Shepard and Udina had never exactly seen eye to eye. Mainly because he was a massive political prick. Constantly licking the boots of minor councillors in hopes of getting a spot for himself on the council. He would probably kill for it. Of course he didn't want it for the good of his own race like most politicians claim they do. He simply wanted the power, the fame and the pay cheque. The reason Udina hated him most of all among all the other things Shepard had done to him, putting viruses and Asari x Krogan porn on his computer, drawing a smiley face of Varren shit on his office window and rudely remarking how stupid his face looked. The reason Udina hated him most of all was because of how Shepard managed to persuade the council to take Captain Anderson instead of him as the first human councillor. Udina had never quite forgiven him for that, or anything Shepard had done to him.

At that point, Udina simply lost his temper. "Shepard! You will be silent! You ordered those men to their deaths and it was completely uncalled for! You are nothing but a liability to the Marine Corps! You call what you did necessary?

Shepard gritted his teeth. It was unbearable listening to this prick ramble on and on. His voice was so annoying. 'I'm going to enjoy shutting you up when I get my hands on you _Udina!' _He thought. Emphasising as much mental venom into that name as he could.

"Tell that to the families of those brave soldiers that you have single-handedly destroyed! Just to protect those nefarious aliens that you clearly serve in favour over us?! You may be a spectre, but you WILL remember who you really belong to! Get him out of my sight!"

Shepard jumped as he immediately felt the sting of the taser sending 80 volts of electricity into his neck. Before he knew it, an electric baton was flying into his face.

S

_Coldharbour Alliance correctional facility - Tuesday 18:24 _

Shepard slowly opened his left eye, then quickly shut it as it was smacked with a ray of light too bright for his pupil to endure. Slowly he reopened his eye; he couldn't make out the shapes dancing within his sight.

The shapes flying across his vision soon came together… he could make out more accurate parts of them… and then colours, the shapes were people.

"Hey doctor, I think he's awake. Can he hear us?" The voices were coming from the foot of his bed, blurred but audible.

"He shouldn't, the anaesthetic should keep him good and dreary for the remainder of the hour. More than enough time to get him enlisted to his cell."

After much effort Shepard finally managed to decipher the two white shapes standing at the foot of his hospital bed. A scientist in a lab coat and a man in white armour with the Alliance insignia engraved on the left of the breastplate.

Before long the doctor spoke up again. "He should be kept within solitary confinement for the rest of lockdown. In the morning he will strong enough to avoid any unpleasant happenings that I have seen happen among the prison's general population."

"How long has he been in cryo-sleep doctor?"

"Two years and two weeks exactly." The doctor's tone sounded full of approval. 'What a bastard.' Shepard mused to himself.

Then it hit him. 'Two years!?' Everyone must think he's dead! 'Okay, think Shepard… what happened… oh yeah, the trial. Udina sentenced me to time in.. Coldharbour.' Shepard had heard of Coldharbour before, a secret prison on an 'uncharted' world, though he had no idea which one. Truth be told, he didn't actually care.

At present however, it felt like a whole torrent of care towards the situation flooded into him. One thing he did know about Coldharbour, it housed the most notorious and dangerous criminals in Alliance custody. Mostly human criminals with a few terrorists from the Terminus systems of all races.

Shepard's thoughts were interrupted when he realised he was moving. He was on a gurney being wheeled out of the room. Shepard could barely keep his eyes open. The next room was filled with men in orange jumpsuits thrashing around on their beds. Clutching their shank wounds. Another man simply couldn't stop clutching his back-cheeks. There was a hole in the part of his uniform that covered his rear.

By the time they had reached the next room Shepard realised he was suddenly on his feet. Before long his patient's gown was removed and an orange jump suit was halfway up his legs. On the back it had the Alliance symbol embroidered into the material. 'Cheap advertisement' Shepard mused to himself with a sly grin on his face.

One of the guards noticed.

"What's so funny maggot?" The guard had a low booming voice. But there was something else just barely audible in his tone. What was it? Fear? Doubtful. This guy was huge. Heavy-weight size, the kind of guy who eats inmates for breakfast.

Shepard looked up after a couple of minutes of staring at his reflection in the mirror-like floor. "Don't mind me; I was just thinking of mentally undressing your mom. Seriously man, she has tits like a wall."

Shepard was a very immature man. While most people think that in itself is a charming quality, this one guard did not.

The slur happened to earn a slam in the face from the butt of the guard's rifle. "Oh I'm sorry jackass did that hurt?" Shepard wanted to retort, but instead coughed out a mouthful of blood. After minutes of trying to stay balanced on his knees, he finally collapsed and passed out.

S

_Coldharbour Alliance correctional facility - Wednesday 09:21_

Shepard slowly opened his eyes. He was in a room that looked eerily like a water tank. The inside of the cell was verdant with graffiti, date tallies and a word carving to Shepard right that read 'Blue sun 4 life!'

"I hope to god this isn't my permanent cell." He said out loud to no-one in particular. He enjoyed talking to himself. 'Only way I can be sure I'm speaking to an intellectual equal.' He mused amusingly to himself.

From no-where a loud voice from and intercom sounded above him.

"Wake up maggots! Sleep time is over! Getch'yo fat asses out there and be social!"

A loud alarm went off and suddenly Shepard's own shadow materialized in front of him. He looked over his shoulder to see his cell door open.

He slowly got up, nearly falling over as he did so. When he felt confident enough to hold his own weight, he carefully stumbled out of the cell. Right outside was a long corridor caked with rust and blood stains on the wall, and the first thing Shepard noticed was the temperature! It was so fucking cold! He felt like his nipples were going to crack! He looked out his cell door left, and then right. To his right was a giant portcullis-style gate with two armed guards on the other side. To his left was a corridor that took another left. The walls were held the other cell doors two meters apart from each other. Wide open with the inmates slowly walking out. Stretching and yawning as they did so.

At the end of the corridor was a large, dusty courtyard. Two men sat at the mouth of the entrance ignoring anyone else and fixing their eyes on him. Shepard knew they had something to say to him. Probably pick on the new kid or something far more sexual and rapey. No, wait, that happens in the showers.

The man on the left of the entrance was a large man of average height. African-American. With a nasty scar that went through his left eye. The eye itself was white, it looked like a blob of Pizza hut ice-cream. The man on the right was shorter than his accomplice, and not as bulky, but beefy nonetheless. They were both bald. At that moment a disastrous revelation hit Shepard.

'My hair!' he mentally screamed. He lifted a hand to scratch his head. Finding little more than scalp-stubble. Usually Shepard had a buzz cut style hair do. He found it practical. Didn't get in the way, dried quick after a shower, made him look like a bad-ass despite the fact he almost shat himself watching paranormal activities 13. It was three months ago he decided to let a little hair into his life. And now these bastards had only gone and taken his live-stock away from him! The cheek!

The African-American on the left was the first to speak.

"You! New guy! The one who looks a little bit like Bruce Willis in his thirties! A word!"

It wasn't a request, and Shepard knew he was going to have to through the initiation ceremony. 'Just like high-school. Side with the powerful to survive' he planned to himself.

Shepard hesitantly approached the two toughs. He could take care of himself in a fist-fight, but he didn't fancy spending every minute of every day looking over his shoulder.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" he asked with mock-politeness. Shepard was a very childish person. He couldn't be polite or serious even in a situation as potentially dangerous as this.

"Not us." replied the shorter white guy next to the other. "The boss says he knows you and wants to speak with you. It's likely he wants to strike a deal with you. He doesn't really speak to people for much else."

"He knows me?" replied Shepard, his right eyebrow raised. "Who is he?"

"I think it'd be best if you found out for yourself." replied the man on the left. "He's in the courtyard by the entrance to cellblock B. Always is."

Both men shifted out of the way in their respective directions from the entrance permitting Shepard to leave. Nothing more to be said, clearly their boss is someone of importance and/or infamy. 'Might be a good idea to have him on my side' Shepard thought.

Shepard continued on through the large courtyard, about the size of your average football stadium. Men in orange jumpsuits in large groups being forced to do push ups under careful supervision of guards on platforms with snipers, all while doing it to the 'Bring Sally up' song. God it was such an annoying song.

The entrance to cellblock B happened to be right round the corner of the first section of the courtyard. Then Shepard met the one man who would change his life for ever.

"So you're the Shepard they talk about? Huh, I thought you'd be taller."

_To be continued…_

**(A/N) So… What do you think? I'm always open to suggestions, and positive feedback and **_**constructive **_**criticism give me motivation to work harder and faster. I will try to update as often as possible, but I have such a tight schedule it's difficult to keep it all together. Be warned, there will be lemons in this story, nothing too graphic, mild sexy time; the story won't be suitable for persons under the age of 18 and the story won't be purely smut. If you spot words that you believe are misspelled there is a chance that is just English spelling, apologies to any American readers. The pairings will also be developed gradually. I hope you enjoyed my story so far. Good bye for now friends and remember.**

**Eat cheese every day.**


	2. Loose Ends

**(A/N) I would just like to say thanks for those of you who have reviewed, followed and faved. You have all made me feel really welcome in the writing world. I apologise dearly for the mistakes in grammar I may have made in my previous chapter. I'd also like to apologise for leaving you on a cliff-hanger, but enough of this BS! Let's get back to the story!**

Disclaimer: Nothing's changed. I still don't own Mass Effect!

"Speech" 'Thoughts'

_Shepard's P.O.V_

_Coldharbour Alliance correctional facility – Wednesday 09:29_

Shepard eyed the man curiously. This man was rather remarkable. He was tall, about six foot five. Shepard himself was not a short man, but this guy towered over him! He had short dark brown hair, and an impressive but not overly large physique.

But the most remarkable part of his visage was his eye-wear.

He was wearing a pair of mechanic goggles, but that wasn't the strange part, his eyes seemed to glow behind the goggles… Shepard could tell his eyes were glowing and not the goggles, because the man blinked behind them, causing a flicker of light in the lenses.

Shepard truly was speechless; he had no idea how to regard the man in front of him. He replied slowly.

"My name is John Shepard, last time I checked. Might I have your name?"

The man watched Shepard for about two minutes. Which Shepard found unsettling. After a while, his lips started to move.

"I have many names dear boy. But I suppose it all depends on which race is asking. To the humans however I'm referred to as Atlas."

Shepard took a minute to analyse the name. It seemed familiar, and then it hit him.

"THE Atlas? The most wanted human crime lord in the Galaxy? That can't be! It was all over the news when you were killed! You were shot dead by that Alliance marine on Eden Prime who for some reason was dressed as the Grinch!"

"So your Alliance would have you believe." replied Atlas. He spoke with a light and slightly upper-class British accent.

Shepard's eyes narrowed "They are _not _my Alliance! I tried to save the galaxy from certain destruction and they abandoned me!"

"Temper, temper Shepard. I meant no disrespect on your part. Your feat regarding Saren was rather impressive."

He seemed to have a smirk constantly smeared across his face. This made Shepard want to question his mental stability, but decided against it.

Before long Atlas resumed speaking. "To answer your previous question, they needed me alive, I'm of... Sentimental value to some Alliance big-shots or something gay like that. But I digress, Shepard. I have an offer you can't and won't refuse." his voice full of confidence.

Shepard decided to chew over what Atlas had said. 'It's probably something on the lines of 'Let me bum you in the showers and I won't steal your lunch money!'

Eventually Shepard felt confident enough to enquire further. "What exactly does this offer entail?"

Atlas didn't look like he was listening. He was staring off into the distance over Shepard's shoulder. But he replied, taking a step closer to whisper in Shepard's ear.

"There is man in this compound who has resisted paying his debts to me for too long. I want him dead, dead and killed; once he's dead I may just consider hiring an accomplice to escape from this hell-hole."

Shepard's eyes widened a bit. 'I'm not sure this guy is trustworthy, he seems like a nice guy, but he could be a real bastard. I guess I have no option but to play ball.'

Atlas took a few steps back and started leaning against the concrete wall. "Off you go Shepard, your target is a man by the name of 'Theodore', squirrely little bastard. If you need further details I suggest you go ask my guys Bruce and Friedrich. I believe they instructed you to meet me here?"

"Yes" replied Shepard, mentally planning how he was going to make this kill and not get shot by one of the supervising guards.

Conveniently, Atlas spoke up again addressing that problem.

"You may be wondering how you're going to make this kill without interference from the pigs. Got you covered on that part, Bruce and Friedrich are going to be causing a scene giving you a two minute window to take that dickhead down."

Shepard nodded, turning around to leave before he found a small item being shoved in between his fingers, a shiv. Atlas's voice echoed behind him.

"More effective than just fists, just don't flash it in front of the hacks unless you want a beating."

Shepard nodded again and continued walking around the corner and back out into the courtyard.

He looked to his right to see his two old friends flicking nickels off their thumbs where he had left them at the entrance to cellblock A.

Upon approaching them they pocketed their nickels and walked up to him, seemingly aware of the purpose of his return.

The African-American tough, Bruce was the first to speak.

"So, Atlas is sending you after little Theo?" he asked in a wheezy but still intimidating voice.

"That's right" replied Shepard, "Any clues as to his whereabouts?"

The two strongmen exchanged glances. Then Friedrich answered him.

"Sure, he hangs around in the same place each day before lockdown; he hangs around the door to the cafeteria. The fat little sod likes his grub."

Shepard made a mental note of all this, then replied.

"How come Atlas is sending a complete stranger when he has you two?"

The two thugs smiled, which Shepard didn't really think thugs did much of, so he appreciated the moment. Friedrich answered his query.

"We're known loyal supporters of Atlas. If Theo sees us he'll run off, but he doesn't know you, you'll be able to get the drop on him when we distract the sharpshooter guard near the cafeteria entrance. Once you've shanked him, go dump the evidence and hide, I don't know in an empty cell or some shit."

Bruce picked up where Friedrich left off. "But don't come back to us or Atlas 'till we send word for you, yeah?"

Shepard nodded and turned around to walk away, but was stopped when a stone-like hand clamped his left shoulder; he turned to see Bruce staring back at him.

"Don't screw up man. The guards aren't really the most forgiving of people." He stated, pointing to his faulty left eye. Shepard nodded slowly. Bruce released him.

Shepard's mind was abuzz with thoughts, but his dominant thought at the time was 'What the hell have I got myself into?'

* * *

><p><em>19:23PM<em>

Shepard sat on a concrete bench in the prison courtyard massaging his temples and digesting his thoughts. His eyes started taking in his surroundings. Coldharbour was such a shitty place. It was nothing but a large prison facility on a cold desert planet. His main thoughts at present were what he would do if Atlas kept his word and escaped with him. It wasn't like Shepard doubted Atlas's capability, he was known for breaking out of most prisons in under a week! But what would he do if he did escape with Atlas? He'd be a fugitive, a rogue among his own race and government, a criminal.

He knew what his options were, but he didn't really like the sound of any of them. He just wanted things to go back the way they were, before his court martial, before the nasty business with Saren, before Eden Prime.

Sadly, time isn't as malleable as Shepard would like. The past would offer no shelter to his situation so he would have to turn to the future.

Maybe he could get a job on Omega? Become a pirate? Maybe even work for Atlas, it would certainly make life more interesting. But could he live with himself? Is it possible to be a benevolent criminal? A Robin hood-style rogue sending hope to those who oppose the false morality that is preached by governments?

This was a dilemma for later; he had a fat man to kill.

He got up from his seat, making his way to the cafeteria. Ignoring the funny looks some of the other inmates were giving him. 'To hell with you all' Shepard mentally exclaimed 'I don't plan on staying. Enjoy the aching sensation you will be getting in your asses each time you go in the showers!'

Before long he had found the path in the courtyard that lead to the feed ward and regarded the large sign atop the large metal door that read 'Cafeteria'. He scanned the small crowd outside the closed doorway to said cafeteria. There were a few tubbies, but any one of them could have been Theodore.

At that moment he spotted a thin inmate in a black beanie hat waving at him. When he caught Shepard's eye, he started subtly pointing to a bloke on the left of the crowd. There was a short fat man where he was pointing, he was bald, but not shaven like some of the other prisoners, his hair had fallen out, he had a long dirty blonde beard. His jumpsuit jacket was unzipped open, revealing a white shirt that had the word 'Theodore' written on it in black marker pen.

'Huh, that's convenient.' Shepard mused to himself. Embarrassed he didn't spot him earlier.

Shepard walked towards the crowd at a nondescript pace, waiting for Theodore to walk away from the edge of the crowd and more into the middle, where he could be killed without a guard spotting him. It kind of reminded Shepard of when he was a teenager, he was a fan of the Assassin's Creed games. This little job brought back fond memories.

Finally Theodore was moving closer to the nucleus of the crowd, slathering at the lips of the thought of the disgusting brown muck the inmates get here, some inmates say it was the shit of the guards and they were just recycling. Shepard didn't want to stay long enough to find out.

Slowly Shepard slid his borrowed shiv out of its concealed place inside his right sleeve. He spotted Bruce and Friedrich out of the corner of his eye. Presumably getting into position for the distraction he was promised.

Bruce sent a shiv into Friedrich's side. He fell to the ground screaming in pain. The guard at the top of his platform whipped his head round in the direction of the blood-curdling howl. The inmates followed suit.

'Now's my chance!' mentally exclaimed Shepard. Swooping to the left and sending the shiv straight into Theodore's stomach. To prevent him screaming he slapped his hand around his mouth. Surprisingly, no-one had noticed! They were too busy watching Bruce and Friedrich play Hamlet. He threw Theodore to the ground. He let out a stomach turning gurgle before he went limp in Shepard's arms. Shepard removed the shiv from his side and legged it.

Shepard was in panic of being spotted. He had blood on his hands, but luckily none on his clothes, he dumped the shiv in some drunken inmates hand. The drunken inmate was passed out against the wall, a bottle of Smirnoff in his other hand. Shepard ran back to his cellblock. His cell wasn't too far down. Luckily, each cell had a sign which deduced which inmate should be in which cell. He saw the sign that read 'Shepard. J'

Inside his cell was a small sink to the left by his concrete bed; he washed the blood off quick, thankful there weren't any cameras in his cell.

His timing couldn't have been better, after ten minutes of looking in the mirror a loud alarm went off. The cell door closed, sealing him in his cell. Before long the intercom went off, the voice that came out was the same Eddie Murphy-style voice from this morning.

"Bed'time bitches! You gotch'yoselves another big day'a sufferin' tomorrow!

Shepard however had other plans. He was going to leave Coldharbour soon provided Atlas wasn't a bullshitter, Atlas had been known to stab people in the back, but once you had his loyalty, it was set in stone, never wavering.

If Shepard was going to leave soon, he at least wanted to leave his mark in the cell, at some point in the afternoon he discovered a piece of charcoal on the prison grounds during social hours. He decided to write a little caption on the left of the cell.

'John Shepard wuz here!'

Eventually Shepard got on his 'bed' and stared at the hexagonal-shaped ceiling, he looked back on his life, his exploits on Elysium, defending Eden Prime, becoming a Spectre, saving Liara from the Geth, preserving an ancient race of insects, nuking a research facility and saving the council. It made him wonder what all went wrong, the council hailed him a hero, the citadel declared him an idol, yet his own race demanded his blood. Then from no-where, the council hated him too! He saved their sorry asses and he gets branded a social heretic! He wondered what his friends thought of him, he hoped his best friend Garrus would still believe in him. During and after their pursuit of Saren, they had become close, watching films together and cruising space looking for fights and women. He was like the brother he never had. He thought then of Tali, and her pilgrimage, and of Wrex, who had always been loyal to him since Virmire.

He knew he would have to find his friends eventually, not the first thing he planned on doing, but they will have to know the truth, he couldn't stand the idea of them hating him when all they had potentially been told was a lie.

Eventually he got sick of stirring in own thoughts and let sleep claim him. 'I'm not staying here any longer than I have to; unfortunately sleep comes under that highlight.' He mused to himself.

* * *

><p><em>Coldharbour Alliance correctional facility- Thursday 09:13<em>

Shepard opened his eyes to the sound of the alarm and the intercom sounding above him.

"Rise and shine dirt-bags! It's a beautiful Thursday for beatings, drugs, gang-rape and misery just like always!"

The door opened and Shepard ventured out of his cell and followed the other inmates who were leaving their cells down the corridor and out into the courtyard.

Upon leaving his cell, he ran into the skinny man with the black beanie hat from yesterday waiting by the side of his cell. He approached Shepard and spoke in a rather low-pitched voice.

"Atlas wants to see you; he's in his usual place."

Shepard was hoping to thank the man for the distraction, but before he could speak the man was running out into the courtyard, he was rather fast despite being so lanky.

* * *

><p>Shepard found Atlas in his usual place whistling quietly to himself. Shepard tried to speak to him but Atlas beat him to it.<p>

"Good morning sunshine! You were absolutely sexellent yesterday! An investigation is underway but sadly the only leads they have are a known drunk covered in Theo's blood who wasn't even there! How unfortunate for poor Theodore…"

Shepard smiled and replied "Yet very fortunate for you and I."

Atlas smiled "Indeed. Now I believe I promised you an escape plan. We leave tonight."

Shepard smiled a smile of deep satisfaction 'finally, and I didn't get gang-raped in the showers! Everything has a bright side!"

**(A/N) Well there you go; hopefully I made less grammatical errors this time making it easier for you to read it. I'm glad this chapter is out of the way as I was tiring of my little prison scene. Once they escape, we can get to the juicier parts of the story. Hope you have enjoyed the story so far! Bye for now folks and remember.**

**Eat Cheese every day.**


	3. High security jail-break

**(A/N) We shall finally be leaving this bleak, desolate and colourless bastille now. Promise, I'm just as tired of it as you are, and eager to get some more characters in. Once you have read a chapter or the entire story so far please do review! It lets me know how I'm doing, and it gives me the confidence to carry on. But I'm rambling; let's get on with the story. (I'll see if I can't hit 5000 words in the next chapter, shit will be going down in the next chapter.)**

Disclaimer: At present, I am not the owner of the wonderful sci-fi universe that is Mass Effect.

"Speech" 'Thoughts and quotes etc.'

_Shepard's P.O.V_

_Coldharbour Alliance correctional facility - 17:58_

Shepard was finally about to be free from this accursed planet. After a long conversation with Atlas, he had learned everything he had missed during his two year absence.

The recent changes were somewhat depressing to say the least.

There had been reports of entire human colonies vanishing, without a trace! No blood-stains, corpses or evidence of cross-fire had been discovered on any affected colonies. There never were any available witnesses either, never a survivor to tell the story. Many people claimed it to be actions of the Geth, slavers, or even ghosts. These theories however were far from the conclusive truth.

In other news Cerberus had been growing in power much to Shepard's dismay, he never dealt with Cerberus, but he had been told that they are a bunch of xenophobic corporate cock-suckers drunk on power and high on money. They brought much shame to the human race. Or at least the ones who were trying to prove they weren't racist.

Shepard and Atlas were just going over the escape plan with a map of the prison's air ducts Atlas had smuggled from the guard's quarters. Shepard was to smuggle himself via a corrupt guard on Atlas's payroll into the medical ward to use the air ducts into the armoury. Meanwhile Atlas would incite a riot to preoccupy to the guards during the escapade.

"Okay Shep, once you have me and yourself a rifle from the armoury you will meet me in the maintenance room. The duct map suggests that will be the second left exit from the armoury duct."

Shepard eyed the map carefully that rested on Atlas's lap, taking in every last detail in order to avoid any slight screw-ups on his part.

"By the time you are in the maintenance room I won't be far behind, I'll bring in a screwdriver or a crowbar or something to pry the doors open."

Shepard nodded, but he wasn't actually listening, he was too busy remembering a really funny cat video he saw on the Extranet about a week before his court martial, it featured a cat falling into a flushing toilet. Good times.

Atlas noticed his lack of interest in the plan, to attain his attention he snapped his fingers in front of his face.

"Johnny boy! Pay attention!"

Shepard sighed "Let's just get this over with; you can explain the rest of the plan once we reach the maintenance room. I can't stand staying in this place a moment longer."

Atlas regained his usual Cheshire-cat smile. "Couldn't agree more, I guess we should get underway. Sooner we start, the sooner we leave."

Both men nodded and ran in the directions of their tasks.

* * *

><p>Shepard had already left the spacious courtyard and was walking at a brisk pace down cellblock A. His heart was racing, he was no stranger to death, or danger, or fear.<p>

The thing that shat him up about his situation was the tsunami of questions battering his fragile little mind. Mainly on what he was going to do if he escaped, he knew roughly what lay ahead. He would have to go merc.

Shepard never really liked mercs, he didn't like the idea of being paid to do some evil bastard's dirty work, and he certainly didn't like the idea of trampling upon the feeble and the worthless for a blank shot at being a consigliere.

But he had gone over these thoughts time and time again. He no longer had the luxury of morality, truth be told, that died out a while ago. But he at least tried to be a good citizen. That's what really made him consider working with Atlas.

He had heard stories about Atlas, 'The terror of the Terminus' was his nickname among council space, but Atlas had been known to possess a trait most crime-lords had buried. He had generosity.

Atlas had been known to offer money and resources to the starving and the sick of all races except for the Batarians and the Volus. No-one knew why, but he hated those two races with a passion.

This is what made the idea of going renegade seem somewhat appealing, he could be a Robin-hood icon just like Atlas. Steal from the undeserving and the cruel and give it to the somewhat more deserving. Keeping a little on the side for himself as well maybe, taking a little of what was his.

His life was never going to be the same again; he would never get to be an Alliance marine again. Not that he wanted to be; the Alliance had disgraced him, beat him and threw him in prison. To hell with them all!

Finally Shepard reached the giant portcullis gate at the right of his cell at the end of the corridor. This time however there was only one guard behind it, unarmed, looking at Shepard expectantly?

He stepped forward to converse with Shepard.

"You're Shepard, no?" he spoke with a deep, throaty Russian accent. It boomed through his helmet comms nicely.

Shepard nodded, and then replied "I'm with Atlas, you're Rasputin?" Shepard enquired.

The guard nodded lightly, then moved to the gate controls, turning the valve and opening the gate. He then pointed to a door to the side of the gate that Shepard hadn't noticed earlier.

"Medical area is that way. Other guard in there but he has no gun, shouldn't be too big a problem."

"Thanks." Shepard replied, walking through the door and into the small walkway that led into the prison infirmary.

* * *

><p>The door slid open revealing the small room that was the cellblock A infirmary, mainly because cellblock A was tiny compared to the rest of the prison. Which Shepard was grateful for, he was a people person, but he enjoyed his peace and quiet.<p>

There was only one guard clutching a baton in the room just as Rasputin said. Among him lay four inmates who were on gurneys sitting in orderly rows against the wall on Shepard's right. They were all sick with cholera or that's what another prisoner had told Shepard earlier in the day. The guard at the back of the room spotted Shepard and grunted in disgust.

"Stand there and don't even think of moving. The doctor will be out shortly."

Shepard gave a curt nod. He took a minute to examine the room. To the left of the guard was a door, an unlocked door judging by its green light. Shepard remembered the layout of the room on Atlas's map. Behind that door was the supplies closet, which had an air duct inside.

The guard then started to move, hovering near the inmates, occasionally giving them a quick and painful prod in the stomach with his baton in an attempt to shut them up from their sick groans.

Shepard was going to enjoy putting this bastard out of commission.

Shepard crept up behind the man and as quick as he could, wrapped his arms around the guard's throat. The guard reacted immediately; attempting to push Shepard off, Shepard however was too strong for that shit.

Seeing no other option the guard ran back slamming Shepard into the opposite wall about two and a half metres behind him.

Shepard fell off. The guard had his baton in his hand, about to smack Shepard with it.

Shepard grabbed hold of it using a combination of military training and propaganda ninja reflexes to send it flying back into his face.

Shepard leapt to his feet in front of the stunned guard; he then grabbed the back of the guard's head and charged his face straight into the wall. Leaving a small smear of blood on the wall, he looked around to see a black and blue-faced guard tumbling to the floor.

Had he killed the guard? No, probably just knocked him out, not that Shepard cared, sure, he was bullying lowly criminals, but the Alliance he knew and loved didn't do that to people, even if they were scum.

Shepard sprinted to the supplies cupboard door, pressing the green holographic button and letting it slide away. He spotted the large vent behind a cardboard box of painkillers. He slid the box out of the way and pulled the vent hatch up, sliding inside.

As if on cue, he heard a loud intercom sounding from a room somewhere at an unknown distance connected to the vents.

"Alert! Class A riots spreading through blocks A, B, D and E! All security teams hold position and await special riot forces!"

Shepard snickered while climbing through the vent, carefully controlling the amount of noise he was making. 'That son of a bitch doesn't hang about, does he?' he mused to himself, curious as to how Atlas could have rallied that many people in such little time. He must have been planning this prior to him murdering Theodore, possibly before Shepard had been released from cold storage.

Shepard looked to his left and into an air duct turn upon hearing the sound of two voices, upon closer inspection, Shepard realised he was staring out of one hatch that lead to the armoury room. Two guards were inside getting ready to counter the riots.

"I'm telling you, shotguns are far better for riots then SMGs, I've been doing this shit for years, you've just started and you think you know the equipment better than me?"

Before long the other guard replied "Look. I used to be in C-Sec, I know what equipment is right for me when it comes to crowd control. Trust me, SMGs are the shit!"

"Shit isn't the same as 'the shit' I'll have you know." the first guard pouted.

"Fuck you, anyway let's get going, don't wanna miss this!" the other guard replied enthusiastically.

Shepard watched the two armed and armoured guards run out of the room. When he was sure the coast was clear he opened the hatch as quietly as he could and slid out of the vent.

The room was filled with military-grade hardware, with enough weapons, armour and ammunition to occupy a small human colony.

Shepard got to his feet and made his way to the caged section, which thankfully, the guards had left the door to wide open. Shepard walked through sheepishly admiring the weaponry; he grinned and whispered quietly to himself.

"_Beautiful."_

* * *

><p>Shepard was going to kill Atlas after this, here's a tip, if some goggle-faced light bulb-eyed space pirate shit-muncher asks you to drag two assault rifles as well as two custom-made ammo bandoliers through a tiny, cramped air duct. Punch the douche in the face.<p>

That would have to wait, he needed Atlas, and he hated it. And him.

Shepard finally found, after what seemed like eternity, the second left duct from the armoury duct. He looked through, inside was a dimly lit room filled with tools and lockers, the maintenance room, and luckily there wasn't anyone inside.

Certain that it was safe; Shepard undid the hatch and slipped into the room. Atlas wasn't here yet, so he would have to wait.

Ten minutes passed before Shepard heard a distant clank, then the unmistakable sound of a British man mumbling "Come on, almost there, bugger!"

Shepard sniggered as he saw a pale face stick out amongst the steel bars of the duct hatch, which soon slid open. Revealing an insanely grinning Atlas.

It took him about two minutes to get his massive body out of the vent. Shepard couldn't help but laugh at him.

"Laugh it up you sod, we'll see who'll be laughing when you end up single for being the short little garden gnome that you are. Chicks don't go for shorties." Atlas said, playfully.

This didn't get to Shepard at all; he knew very well that he wasn't short. Of course he was compared to the giant before him, but he was truthfully of average height.

That and the fact that Shepard was no stranger to females. He was a menace back in military academy. He was a legend! Teacher or student, young or middle aged, blonde or dark haired, he'd screw it.

The one part of relationships that were alien to him was love. He'd never actually been in love. Wasn't even sure he was capable. Maybe he was, he just hadn't met the right girl for such a commitment yet, and certainly couldn't do it with an angry plethora of god-machines trying to destroy all organic life in the Milky Way and an incompetent group of bitchy bureaucrats who would soon be on his tail once they'd discover his and Atlas's vacation of prison.

Once Atlas was up, Shepard noticed his change of clothes. Atlas wasn't wearing his prisoner jumpsuit. He was wearing a navy-blue hoodie with matching jeans and a pair of pure black aviator sunglasses to cover his glowing eyes.

"Do I get a change of clothes?" asked Shepard, desperate to get rid of his prison attire that Shepard was pretty sure was second-hand. It stank of sweat, oil and shame.

"This is what the off-duty guards wear." replied Atlas, pacing over to a locker.

"Couldn't get you an outfit as this was the last one but… Ah! Bingo!"

Atlas turned to Shepard handing him an outfit by its coat-hanger. It was a sky-blue boiler suit. Shepard looked at Atlas puzzled. Atlas soon answered his questioning look.

"The prison's maintenance guys wear these. You and I are going through the guard's quarters."

Shepard nodded in understanding 'Better than this shitty jumpsuit' he mused to himself. He took the boiler suit. Atlas was looking in the opposite direction whilst he changed clothes, tossing his old jumpsuit behind one of the work benches.

"Now for stage two of the plan" Atlas started "I'm off to the Warden's office to get the codes to a prison ship. You are going to the Shipmaster deck above the spaceport to disable the safety tractor-beams that keep the ships grounded."

Shepard thought about this, and then suddenly, a thought crossed his mind. Actually, Shepard had been waiting for this to happen.

"Oh no you don't Atlas! I knew this would happen; you're going to betray me. You're going wait until I switch of the grounding device and then take off without me and let the guards catch me! I knew there were strings attached to this escape plan!"

To Shepard's surprise, Atlas burst out laughing.

"Clever boy, you're right, I probably would have, but seeing as you saw through that façade I think you deserve not to be double-crossed. Besides, I might not have, I did ask to escape with you for a reason." Atlas said, gasping in-between laughs.

"So what makes you think I'm going to play along?" Shepard said, his eyebrow raised.

Atlas looked at him, his smile faded.

"You're just going to have to trust me, you're already in trouble, and you can't go back now. Besides, I need you to stop the Reapers. But we'll get to that once we're free."

Shepard sighed, he was between a rock and a hard place. It was either take his chances with Atlas, or face dire retribution from the guards. His answer was obvious.

"Fine. But if you take off without me I don't know how or when, but I'll be back to get you!" Shepard wasn't the angry sort, but his situation was grave. He had to be serious at the moment, as much as he hated it.

Atlas sniggered lightly, "Wouldn't dream of it John."

Shepard grunted in disbelief. But decided not to press the matter any further.

They both approached the door to cell block A's guard's dormitory.

"Alright remember, you're a technician who has just transferred from cell block B to cell block A to fix their Wi-Fi issues. I'm a rookie guard who has just got a job here. Just try and act natural." Atlas said.

"Easy for you to say" Shepard retorted with an exaggerated sigh.

The two men dispersed and set out to two separate corridors.

* * *

><p>The guard's quarters were actually rather nice. The floors were well polished. Every three metres along a corridor sat a potted fern bush either side. Movie posters were the main decoration along the walls.<p>

Shepard wondered if he'd get a chance to see any of them. He made a mental note of all of the movie titles that seemed like they might be worth watching at the first opportunity he gets to go to a cinema.

'_Asari bride's maids', 'My gay best friend', 'Dumb and Dumber (Turian remake)' _and one that looked particular good was '_The Krogan next-door_'.

Shepard was so distracted he accidently bumped into an off-duty guard.

"Whoops sorry my bad!" Shepard said, apologetically, desperate to get away.

But then Shepard got an idea.

"It's fine. You're clearly just careless, it's not like we have a shortage of people like you." replied the guard, like a dick.

Shepard would normally have a smart-ass comment prepared for this dick. But this required a touch of subtlety.

"Sorry I'm new and a bit lost, could you do me a favour and tell me where I can find the Shipmaster deck?"

The guard looked at him puzzled, Shepard was shitting himself in thinking the question may have been suspicious enough to blow his cover.

However, the man answered.

"You must be one they called down to _finally _fix our damned Extranet problem!" he said angrily "Took your sweet time! Shipmaster's deck is down the hall, take a left at the cafeteria and take a right from the entrance to the executive toilet. The Extranet router is in the Shipmaster deck. But I guess you already know that."

Shepard nodded, pushing past the short guard to follow his given bearings.

* * *

><p>After what seemed like ages Shepard finally reached the door to the Shipmaster deck. It gave a great view of Cell block A's space port.<p>

He saw Atlas kneeling behind a stack of crates next to a large transport ship. There were a few guards loitering around the admission station fondling their rifles like the clueless douchebags that they are.

Shepard soon caught Atlas's eye who begun waving at him. Shepard waved back. At that point Shepard spotted an orange item in Atlas's hand, it was the data pad which had the codes for the ships. The tractor beam just needed to be lifted and they were outta here!

Shepard loaded up the Shipmaster computer, and it took a couple of minutes to load up, and thankfully, wasn't protected by a password. Presumably the complacent assholes who built this place never expected any prisoner to get this far.

He opened up the file 'Safety' and looked at the options before him, there were so many fun things he could do on this computer that he unfortunately couldn't do without killing Atlas or himself, such as switching off the space port air supply or letting the decompression crush everyone in the port.

Those actions were inadvisable, so instead he picked the option Tractor-beam: Off. Luckily the guards didn't notice the safety beams switched off. The doors of the port opening straight after however, got their attention.

The guards all looked up at Shepard's window, Shepard wasn't sure if they could see him, the glass might be reflective, but he didn't want to stay long enough to find out.

Shepard ran. Running out of the deck and straight back into the corridor outside. Luckily the guard's quarters were somewhat empty due to the riots.

He spotted the guard from earlier leaning against the wall, looking like a prick with his shirt unbuttoned, he looked like a wanna-be illusive man. "Fixed yet?"

Shepard ran past him "No! Virus! Fix it later!" Shepard didn't really know what he had said to him, he was just saying random words that he hoped were relevant to the guard's question.

Soon enough Shepard found his way down the stairs to see three guards with rifles shooting at an active ship four feet in the air dangling from the port.

Shepard legged it, the guards, who due to their surprise disacknowledged his disguise and shot at him.

'Bloody hell! Shepard mentally exclaimed, sprinting between the crates, Atlas wasn't leaving him, the back door to the ship was wide open.

Shepard leapt off the port. If he fell, it would have been a nasty 5000ft drop.

Fortunately, his timing was good.

Once Atlas was certain he was in, he closed the rear hatch.

"Fuck me dry!" Shepard started, "I thought I was a goner!"

Atlas laughed from somewhere in the cockpit. "You need to put some faith in me son."

Shepard laughed, "Yeah, faith. Sure thing."

Atlas broke the banter "Hold on to your butt! We're approaching the Mass relay!"

**(A/N) Finally! We're out of Coldharbour! We can finally get to the more interesting parts of the story now! Let me know in the reviews how my action scenes were. Were they acceptable? Or were they complete horse-shit? To be honest, I found them harder than I thought they'd be. As I said I will try and write even longer chapters from now on, and I defiantly can get to assembling the crew now! We'll have all your Mass Effect pals! Including….. Well, that would be telling….. **

**Bye for now friends and remember these words of wisdom.**

**Eat. Cheese. Every. Day.**

**P.S. If you're reading Gary, then yes, the douchebag guard complaining about the Extranet was based off of you. See you at the Halloween party!**


	4. Two parts of a triangle

**(A/N) Okay. We have finally left Coldharbour, hopefully the story should be easier to write seeing as the story is now going to places created by Bioware and not from scratch, but I think that Mass Effect should have had a prison level. In this chapter we can finally get some more characters into the story, and within the next chapter I'll hopefully be introducing the third and final Allfather. I'm sorry to bring this up again but I really need you people to review my work now because we don't have enough votes for Shepard's partner, if no more votes come I'll have to throw a dice. I also need you to review because this story has been getting a lot of views so far and I'm really nervous because I don't know what you people think about my story. Am I wasting your time? Or are you enjoying it? Anyway, let's get back to the story.**

Disclaimer: Mass Effect isn't my property.

"Speech" 'Thoughts'

_Shepard's P.O.V_

_Coldharbour transport ship-52, Inner council space – 03:34_

Shepard awoke from his nap groggily, his head spinning from the crazy events of just a few hours ago. Or it might have been the Mass relay, he always got a bit sea-sick from those when on the Normandy.

Shepard was at the back of the drop ship lying on the many seats that dotted either side of the ship. It was uncomfortable as he kept laying his head against the unavoidable seatbelts.

Atlas was in the pilot's seat in the cockpit, leaning back into his chair sleeping deeply, exhausted by the day's events.

It had been little over six hours since they had escaped from Coldharbour. Shepard could finally pick up the pieces of his shattered life and start anew. Of course, he realised that new life would have to involve a lot of blood, death, crime and law evasion. But Atlas had reassured him that with him on his side, they had nothing to worry about and on top of that a fortune to be made.

Before their little nap Atlas and John were discussing their new business partnership. Atlas had given Shepard an offer that really surprised him. John was expecting a gun, some armour, a bed and a wage but instead Atlas had offered him half of his entire criminal enterprise.

"Half and half Shep, you and me, 50%, straight down the middle, what do you say?" Is what Atlas had said to him.

Shepard had told him he needed a while to think the proposition over. It was a lot to take in, he didn't know if he was cut out to manage half of a crime family, and knew even less if he wanted to or not.

It was a dirty business, but Atlas had reassured him that on top of being loved and adored by people who went for the mysterious highwayman type, he would also be rich beyond his wildest dreams.

"Whatever you ever wanted will be yours, John. Money, cars, guns, drugs, alcohol and women. Nothing will be beyond your and my needs."

Shepard truly was speechless, as much as he wanted all of that stuff he hoped it wouldn't corrupt his moral judgement, most people claimed Shepard to have been one of the cruellest men on a battlefield, but deep down, Shepard was a nice guy.

Shepard had been thinking about it for quite a while, he had yet to give Atlas an answer, not that he needed to rush, he was asleep. No need to wake him up.

The other matter Shepard had to consider once more was how he would affect the lives of people around them, he didn't want to be some cheap thug in a suit trampling on and robbing the poor people below him just so he could buy a 30-inch plasma TV. He wanted to be a respected and just man. Maybe he could roll the two together? Be ruthless and cruel to his targets and be kind and just to those he loves? He could have both! Wealth and adoration!

He had reached his decision, but if he was going to do this there is one person he wanted and _needed _to do this with.

Garrus Vakarian.

Garrus had always hated crime in any form, but perhaps he could be persuaded? While Shepard was beginning to trust and possibly even like Atlas, he wanted his best friend on board with this as well.

He wanted to have a triangular-setup with Him, Garrus and Atlas. 33% to each of them and the remaining one per cent to…. Charity? Yeah, sure that could work! They could feed the poor with that one per cent, they'd be like modern-day Al Capones!

The biggest issue was getting Garrus to see his grand epiphany, Garrus could be very stubborn, but so could Shepard.

As three they would be the most powerful gangsters in the Galaxy, more so than the Terminus mercs, or the Batarian warlords, or even Aria T'Loak!

With their virtually bottomless resources Shepard would have everything he needed to stop the Reapers! Even if the Alliance and Council had tried to incarcerate him from the galaxy, _nothing _was going to stop him stopping them. The galaxy hated him, but it was still his galaxy, and he was going to save it.

Atlas stirred from his slumber before awakening. He then got out of his seat and noticed Shepard was awake too.

"Oh, you're up? Good timing, I think we'll head for the Citadel. We got ourselves some business to take care of."

Shepard got up from his seat. "I have come to a decision regarding your offer, Atlas."

Atlas raised an eyebrow "Let's hear it then Shepard. Half a crime family and all the perks that come along with it. 50, 50 between you and me."

Shepard took a deep breath, and replied "I accept your offer. However I would like to renegotiate the terms of this partnership."

Atlas considered this for a moment. Shepard could see the gears turning in his head. Before long, Atlas spoke up. "Alright. But you'd better not push your luck. I don't make offers like these every day."

Shepard nodded "Noted."

Shepard explained Garrus to Atlas. Who he was, where he came from, his retirement from C-Sec and most importantly, his skill as a soldier and as a leader.

Atlas paused for a good minute. Then eventually, spoke.

"I'll have a chat with him if we ever find him, but I should warn you that his trail went cold, before I got myself arrested I looked into your former companions just in case you fancied hiring them into the family. I'm afraid none of my agents found any leads regarding Garrus. He just vanished." Atlas said, apologetically.

Shepard nodded, he'd have to look into it, right now, and Garrus was the first person he wanted to reminisce with.

"First of all." Atlas started. "We are going to need to build a new branch of our crime family to get you working with people you can trust; I have had a wealth of dossiers loaded onto two data pads. One at my safe house on the Citadel and the other will be handed to us on arrival. I'll head to the safe house first."

"Sounds good to me." Shepard said genuinely happy now that he was going to see his friends again.

"You're going to be hiring some of your old friends, meanwhile I'm going to rendezvous with some old contacts to get us the necessary hardware for this operation, and I'll also look into getting us a new ship. This transport ship is no good for housing a crew."

"Agreed."

Atlas nodded and walked back over to the cockpit, sitting down and steering over toward the Citadel. Shepard watched from behind Atlas's seat. It was a captivating sight to behold; it always was every time he came.

Before long the comms radio went off.

"Welcome to the Citadel" stated a female voice from the other end. "Please state your business."

Atlas replied "Alliance business, this is a prisoner transfer from C-Sec to Coldharbour Alliance correctional facility requesting clearance to dock."

"Please standby." replied the operator.

Half a minute later her voice returned "Clearance granted, go on through."

"Thanks." Atlas said, giving a thumbs up to Shepard.

They were in.

Soon they landed, hearing the ship clamps clam onto the ship Atlas opened the rear hatch and they both stepped out.

Once they stepped out a female Quarian was there to greet them at the C-Sec elevator. She was carrying two large black duffel bags.

Atlas greeted her "Hello Rita, long time no see, I presume those bags hold the equipment I asked for?"

She nodded, handing over the bags before taking her leave.

"What's in the bags then?" enquired Shepard.

"Quarian life-suits, seeing as we're both wanted men and they no doubt have released wanted posters and bounty cards for us we're gonna need disguises. So we're dressing as a couple of Quarian exiles."

"There's just one slight problem, we don't have the same legs as Quarians." Shepard pouted.

"John, humans are incredibly racist, they don't care about Quarian biology! No-one will notice."

Shepard grunted in disbelief but just went with it; he was too tired to argue with Atlas.

They decided to change behind the C-Sec elevator, holy shit were those suits tight! No wonder the Quarians lose their shit over the Geth taking their homeworld from them! To Shepard it felt a lot like being buried alive in a sleeping bag, god it was one of the most horrible moments of his life!

"I think I'm dying from internal bleeding in here!" he complained.

"Shut your pie-hole! We only have to wear these for the day and while we're out we can buy ourselves some nice new clothes, you know, shirts, jeans, trainers and all that jazz."

Shepard squirmed as he put the helmet on; it smelt of rusty coins and a burning hatred towards synthetics.

Atlas removed his shades to put his helmet on revealing his bright, husk-like, yellow glowing eyes. Shepard had wanted to ask him about those for ages, but decided not to be rude, it was obviously synthetics.

Atlas noticed this, "I'll tell you the story someday." he said, ambiguously.

Shepard nodded "Sure thing, where will I meet you and when?"

Atlas thought for a moment, then he formulated a time and place.

"Back here at… Let's say half-past three in the afternoon. Does that work for you?"

Shepard nodded, that was more than enough time to buy new clothes, see his friends and upgrade his Omni-tool tariff.

"Good." Said Atlas, rummaging around in his duffel bag, bringing out a data pad and handing it to Shepard.

"These are the locations of four of your friends; convince them to join us by any means necessary; they are essential."

Shepard nodded and Atlas walked into the elevator. Shepard stayed behind and read the data pad.

Inside the data pad was a ready transaction of 5000 credits, and an e-mail.

The e-mail read as follows:

_Atlas,_

_The targets you told me to follow have all decided to settle on the Citadel. Urdnot Wrex was the last to arrive; he spends most of his nights drinking at Chora's den over the arrest of his friend, one ex-Commander John Shepard. The Quarian female you told me to follow, Tali'Zorah has been purchasing used ship parts from the markets probably for the Migrant fleet. Doctor Chakwas has a job at the Medi-clinic downtown in the wards and has been there since leaving the Alliance medical division. Finally, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau has been spending most of his nights at Flux nightclub. Could not find out why._

_Good luck,_

_Hannibal._

Shepard closed the data pad. Analysing the locations of his friends. But before he wished to speak to anyone of them, he decided to buy some donuts.

* * *

><p>Lots of people gave Shepard weird looks, it took him ages before he realised and remembered when Tali told him how Quarians have to eat specially prepared nutrient paste. So walking around with a pack of donuts would look like an oddity to some. Particularly a small group of Quarians who spotted him, they just thought he was a human who wanted to be a Quarian. Shepard didn't give a shit, nothing got in the way of donut time, only a fool would separate Shepard from his donuts.<p>

Shepard walked towards Flux nightclub first after stepping out of the Rapid travel taxi. It wasn't one of Shepard's favourite venues, he preferred Chora's den. The drinks were better, the music was better and it satisfied Shepard's reputation for being a bit of a player. He loved his women.

Flux was as busy as he remembered, people dancing right at the back of the bar in the middle, sure enough, Joker was on the left at a table all on his own pissed out of his head.

Shepard approached and sat down with him. It took a whole five minutes for Joker to finally look up from his head resting on the table to notice Shepard.

"Wha..? Who are you? I dunn… Hic! I dunno any Quarians! What d'ya want?"

Shepard laughed under his mask at the sight of Joker wasted. He looked like he'd gone through a rose bush backwards.

"Joker it's me! John!"

"Wha..? That can't be…. Stop playing tricks…. He was arrested ages ago, then he broke out or some shit…"

"Snap out of it Joker! It really is me! I need you to"- He was cut off when Joker started talking.

Joker's eyes widened. Then he repeated himself slowly. "Then he…. broke….out….or some….shit…" more to himself than Shepard.

John leaned over the table quick and slapped a hand over his mouth to prevent him screaming for help.

Some people saw this and watched, interested by the scene.

Shepard noticed this, 'I have to get this idiot out!'

Shepard started laughing heartily, holding on to Joker firmly with his hand still clasped around his mouth. "Come on Joker! What are you like? You know you shouldn't drink too much; it fucks with your coordination! Come on buddy, I'll walk you home!" Shepard said loudly, making sure everyone heard him. The patrons simply got back to their drinks as Shepard hauled Joker out. Not that it was too hard; Joker was about as weak and fragile as a porcelain doll.

Shepard got him outside and into an inconspicuous alleyway. He let go of Joker and took off his helmet.

Joker was considerably more sober now.

"What the hell! How did you get out?! It was all over the news! Don't kill me! I've got so much to give!" Joker was now practically grovelling at Shepard's left leg. Shepard couldn't hold it, he burst out laughing.

"You- You really are a massive pussy Joker! I'm not here to kill you!"

Joker was now back on his feet; his face was as red as a tomato.

Shepard, after gaining control of his massive humorous outbursts then continued.

Shepard explained to Joker about Atlas, about Coldharbour and how his arrest and imprisonment was completely unjustified. Joker said that Shepard was arrested for treason against the Alliance and the Council. Shepard then explained to Joker about his new job, and how he needed a seasoned pilot for his new ship Atlas had promised to get for him.

Joker however, wasn't playing ball.

"I can't go merc! That's insubordination! I can't-

Shepard grabbed hold of Joker's throat. Clasping down on his windpipe until Joker was choking. Eventually, he passed out from the lack of oxygen. Shepard would come back for him later, he wasn't about to stay here and argue in an alley. He was coming, whether he liked it or not. Shepard picked Joker up and chucked him in a dumpster; he'd be safe there. He'd return to collect him later.

* * *

><p>Chakwas was next. Her medical expertise would no doubt be vital to whatever mad quest Atlas had planned for Shepard. Shepard also decided that he would eventually have to consider looking into these human colony disappearances he'd heard about from Atlas. Could be connected with the Reapers.<p>

Shepard stepped out of his taxi and towards the clinic. Once he arrived at the door he opened it and stepped inside.

A woman in a white lab coat looked up from her desk and saw Shepard, who to her was just another Quarian dignitary.

"Can I help you sir?" she asked in a polite but tired tone. She had dark blonde hair and grey eyes. Shepard stepped forward and replied.

"Yes you can. I'm here to see Doctor Chakwas."

She nodded in understanding and called for Dr Chakwas.

"Doctor Chakwas? Doctor Chakwas there's a Quarian here to see you!" she spoke with a dense New York accent.

Her voice was so irritating when it was raised, she reminded Shepard a lot of the receptionist with the bug-eye glasses from Ghostbusters.

Doctor Chakwas walked into the room. She took one look at Shepard and gestured him to follow her to her office. Shepard was a little confused; she must have been expecting a male Quarian today. Upon walking into her office and closing the door behind her she turned to Shepard and removed his helmet.

Shepard spoke out in protest. "Hey! Don't touch that! If you remove it I'll die of flu or something!" Chakwas wasn't listening she took it straight off of him. She was clearly stronger than she looked.

She looked at the unmasked Shepard and smiled.

"I knew it was you. You're a terrific soldier, but you are a terrible actor, Shepard."

* * *

><p>Shepard looked at her, smiling. "How'd you know it was me?"<p>

She looked at him tiredly, and then replied "Come now John, I'm a doctor. I have a degree in Xenobiology, I know a Quarian when I see one."

John looked at her happily, "Your reaction to seeing me is far calmer than Joker's. He tried to scream for help like a schoolgirl!"

She sighed and shook her head in bewilderment. "Typical Joker, but enough about that. Have a seat; I'm guessing you didn't come here for friendly banter." She gestured for him to sit down, and then took her seat behind her desk.

"Well" Shepard started "The thing is, I have been falsely convicted of shit I haven't actually done. I'm now somewhat a godfather-figure who will have to resort to crime and violence in order to survive and save the galaxy now that I have been deprived of my previous resources and power as a high-ranking soldier."

Doctor Chakwas knew the story, or at least most of it. I was all over the news, the only thing that wasn't covered was the precise details as to Shepard's 'going rogue fiasco'.

"Now I have to resort to privateering and bank robberies to raise the shit I need to take on the Reapers; it's only a matter of time before they return, with or without Saren and the Geth. I have been tasked by my new 'associate'." Shepard put a lot of emphasis on Atlas only being an acquaintance, even though they were sort of friends, friends in the making you might say. The thing that put Shepard off of befriending Atlas was his history. All the people he'd killed. All the ships he had robbed. The body count was bottomless.

"In my new career I happen to require the services of a seasoned and experienced medical officer. I thought you'd fit the bill nicely."

Chakwas stared at him blankly. Chewing over what he'd said to her, then replied.

"As much as I'd like to serve as a doctor alongside you again Shepard I'm too old to go racing across the galaxy with you again. I'd certainly be no good."

Shepard gave her his best puppy eyes. "You don't understand Chakwas, the fate of the galaxy rests on our shoulders. I _need _you and only _you_."

She stared at him and heavily sighed. "Fine, if you really need me that much. Allow me to organise my things, give me a time and place and I'll leave with you and your accomplice."

* * *

><p>Things were going far better than Shepard could have anticipated. Tali was next on the list. No doubt Atlas had caught wind of her superb engineering skills. She would no doubt prove useful in any technological projects that would be involved in whatever grand scheme Atlas has concocted. In the limited time Shepard had known Atlas he knew by now it would be something insane andor impossible.

Stepping out of the taxi Shepard spotted Tali toward the wards markets. Suddenly from an alley she was swept up into one of the tight spaces by a shadow too quick for Shepard to decipher its owner's shape.

Shepard stepped his pace up into a gallop towards the scene. The sight he saw next reminded him of the day he met Tali.

Two Turians and a Salarian sandwiched her into a triangle-like encirclement, they all wore Eclipse mercenary uniforms. Shepard got closer to make out what their leader, the Salarian, was saying.

"So Quarian, you are in a lot of trouble…" said the Salarian, his tone was deep and his voice was smooth. He continued "Stealing Eezo from the Eclipses isn't exactly the best way to help your Migrant fleet is it? When one of their own returns in a body bag…."

Tali quickly responded, eager to get out of this peacefully. "You misunderstand! I never stole your ships Eezo! I swear it on all I hold dear!" She was understandably panicking.

The Salarian let out a heavy chuckle, and then traced his long, weird finger across her mask visor. "Don't lie to me girl. My guys say they saw you making off with a drum of Eezo, I'm far more inclined to believe them over you."

The Salarian snapped his fingers, and the two Turian musclemen had their hands on her instantly, their eyes filled with rapey desire…

Shepard wasn't going to stand for this, quick as a lightning bolt he whipped out the rifle he stole from Coldharbour and pumped both Turians full of metaphorical lead.

The Salarian turned round immediately, upon spotting Shepard, he reached for his pistol, Shepard then shot him in the left foot.

The Salarian fell to his knees. Screaming in pain, Shepard removed his mask and ran up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform; his face inches from the Salarian's. He let out a long, feral growl.

"Leave. Now."

He threw the Salarian away, he crawled out of the alleyway screaming at Shepard, "The Eclipses will know of this! We'll be back to put a hole between your eyes! You'd better watch your back!"

Shepard wasn't listening, he wasn't scared of a few mercenaries. He turned to Tali. Her eyes wide in spotting Shepard.

* * *

><p>"Shepard! Tali exclaimed, running to him and lunging on him to envelope him in a rib-crushing hug, it lasted for only a few seconds, but it were some of the best few seconds of Shepard's life.<p>

When she finally let go the inevitable questions poured in like a Pilipino flash-flood. Where have you been? What've you been doing? Why did you go? Shepard was getting pretty sick of the questions, but Tali deserved an explanation.

Udina's betrayal, court martial, Coldharbour, Atlas, riot, escape, crime lord, recruiting. It was such a long story already.

After he was done explaining the whole story to Tali, she looked at the ground in disappointment, "Shepard, as much as I'd love to go space-faring with you again like old times, it's not my decision, the Migrant admirals had assigned me a task, I must tend to it." It took a whole ten minutes of arguing before Shepard finally got the message. Tali was unavailable. It didn't help Shepard's spirits at all.

* * *

><p>Finally, Shepard was to recruit Urdnot Wrex, arguably the most important part of the team for now until Atlas could get some of his own guys on board, and locate Garrus. Wrex was to be their prized muscle.<p>

Shepard wasn't going to bother going for Kaidan, he'd get involved with a crime family on the day hell freezes over. He wanted Liara to come along as well, but he couldn't picture Liara working with organised crime, still, it was worth a try.

But that shit would have to wait.

Shepard walked straight from the markets where he found Tali to Chora's den. One of Shepard's favourite hangouts, Shepard had always been a bit of a party animal, Atlas had mentioned on the ship earlier that he was also very fond of the club, and had on more than one occasion tried to steal ownership of it. But Saren had ensured the legal bonds of the club were tied to Fist like steel girders, and Fist was so big a pussy being locked up in his office all day long that Atlas couldn't send anyone round to kill him. Now that someone else was calling the shots at the gentleman's club Atlas would likely make a move on it like the ripe fruit that it is.

He entered the club to see it was exactly the way he had left it, the strippers were just as beautiful as always, but then, Asari generally were. The drinks still had the same fiery kick that Shepard had so fondly missed, sitting down at the bar to get a quick drink while he scanned the club for Wrex. He found him sat down under the curvy canopy at the left of the circular bar in the centre of the club. He was with a Turian in C-Sec armour who had just got up and left.

Shepard downed his drink and got up to sit with Wrex.

"Do I know you, Quarian?" grumbled Wrex.

Shepard chuckled lightly, Wrex hadn't changed one bit. Not a bit. He removed his helmet.

"I'm rather hurt you don't remember me Wrex, after all the shit you and I have waded through."

Wrex recognized the voice, that charismatic hum, the sarcastic echo, the play-mockery curtained by false humidity. Wrex's eyes widened at the realisation as to who he was sat down with.

He turned to face him slowly, he practically had to spit his words out. "Sh-She-Shepard!?"

Shepard smiled, nodding in confirmation. "In the flesh."

Wrex almost jumped out of his seat and near violently gripped his hand and shook it up and down with primal vigour.

"It's good to see you my friend! I knew you'd escape eventually! You've no idea how glad I am to see you!"

"Easy Wrex, I think you dislocated my shoulder!" Shepard laughed playfully. It was nice to know he was missed during his disappearance.

"Sorry, still haven't quite worked out how to be gentle yet." He said, with humour, somewhat of an oddity for Wrex, but Shepard took it.

* * *

><p>The conversation with Wrex lasted all afternoon, starting with Shepard's escape, followed by a friendly reminisce, and then, business.<p>

"So you see Wrex, I find myself in need of the highest quality muscle on the market. I know you best, I know you get results, you're Krogan, the best kind of mercenary. Atlas says we need an enforcer to uh, 'enforce' our claim on turf, insure shipment security and undergo unpleasant nastiness with competition. The job comes with a reasonably high pay and top quality health insurance."

Wrex grinned insanely, "I'll take the job, and after all, work has been rather thin on the ground since you left, my usual clients just dropped out of the game."

They shook hands. Shepard and Atlas had all the best team members they could possibly get from the Citadel. Atlas had sent Shepard an Omni-tool text concerning his recovery of the second data pad. They would review the other dossiers later.

* * *

><p>That was the last of it. Shepard's arms were overflowing with shopping bags filled with new clothes. Atlas had informed him not to bother getting armour or weapons. He had those bases covered. Shepard had everything he needed, shirts, jackets, hoodies, jeans, socks, trainers and underpants.<p>

At that moment he received a long-awaited text from Atlas.

_Bitch,_

_Found us a ship. Need help in acquiring it, I think you'll be pleased with my choice. Meet me at the warehouse district at eight o'clock PM. Bring Wrex and your rifle, things could get messy. ;)_

_Much love,_

_Atlas._

* * *

><p>Shepard and Wrex arrived at the Warehouse district. Stepping out of the taxi, they spotted Atlas leaning over the rail in his Quarian disguise. He soon spotted them and walked up to them.<p>

"So…. A ship, huh?" Shepard asked, relieved he was finally gonna get to go space-faring again.

"Yep. You'll never guess which ship I got for you!" Atlas was genuinely excited.

"Which ship?"

"Guess" Atlas was starting to get on Shepard's tits now.

"Which ship!?" Shepard raised his voice.

"The Normandy, Shepard! We're stealing the Normandy!"

* * *

><p>Shepard's eyes widened in amazement. He'd actually forgotten about the Normandy, he probably had just guessed that he'd never see it again. Not after Udina had it taken from him. Joker was in tears.<p>

"How'd you find it?" asked Shepard, genuinely interested.

"Rita found it; I think you'll be pretty pleased as to which arseholes we're stealing it from."

"Who?" asked Shepard, interested.

Atlas smiled under his mask, Shepard could tell by the way his glowing eyes changed shape behind the visor.

"Cerberus. After you were sent to prison Udina pulled some strings and went rather far out of his way to ensure the ship was sold to Cerberus, and only Cerberus. Odd."

'Yeah, odd. But not too odd, this is Udina, and he's a massive shit-bricker anyway. When I see him, I'll cut his balls off.' Shepard mused, staring at his feet.

Atlas resumed speech, "Cerberus have illegally stashed the Normandy in a hidden private dock in one of these warehouses. Rita says its warehouse C."

They all unsheathed their guns and switched off their safeties.

* * *

><p>"We should take some prisoners with us." said Wrex, "They may have valuable information and on top of that we'd possibly get some good personnel to boot."<p>

Atlas nodded "Good idea Wrex, though they may need persuasion, but allow me to deal with that." Atlas was grinning like a maniac.

They all made their way to Warehouse C. The secret Cerberus dock. If Shepard could capture, no, 'rescue' the Normandy, Joker would surely be far more cooperative. If not, Atlas had volunteered to fly, but he'd be nowhere near as good as Joker.

One man in white armour stood at the door to Warehouse C, he was armed with an SMG. His armour was bearing the Cerberus insignia.

Atlas approached him.

"Halt!" he begun "This dock is of private property! I'm under full clearance and obligation to terminate all trespassers! State your business!"

Atlas reached into his leather coat slowly and pulled out a small switch-blade knife. He plunged it into the guard's stomach. He squealed in muffled pain before collapsing to the ground. Atlas pulled out a handkerchief ad wiped the blade clean. They stepped into the warehouse.

"Subtle." Wrex mused.

* * *

><p>The entire dock was a little larger than a normal Citadel dock. The Cerberus logo was printed on the far side of the wall behind the Normandy, which was docked right in the middle staring out into space.<p>

Two men in lab coats sat in by the admission station. Two other Cerberus employees stood atop the observation area. One was a woman with long brown hair; the other was a short-haired African American. Both were wearing Cerberus uniforms. Three other men sat in the back; they were wearing white, black and orange uniforms, the colours of Cerberus. They were also wearing black balaclavas.

They all looked up to see two heavily armed Quarians and a Krogan. Before glancing at each other and shouting "Intruders!"

They all ducking into nearby cover, the two doctors ran into a small office looking over the port, the two operatives stood in the cover behind the three masked mercs. John, Atlas and Wrex all took cover behind a few crates atop the stairs they were situated on. The mercs were rather shit shots, but one managed to actually get Shepard in the shoulder, just barely, grazing the skin through the Quarian suit, which wasn't ideal for combat situations. Wrex fired his shotgun before anyone else sending slug clusters into one merc's face.

The male black Operative managed to biotically hold up a crate and throw it at Atlas, knocking him in the head, Atlas fell unconscious.

Shepard leapt from cover aiming his rifle and firing blankly, judging by the blood flying in the air one merc lay dead and the female Cerberus operative got shot in the chest, she fell to the floor.

Wrex managed to shoot the other merc who just stood there and stared. Ever since the female Operative died, the African-American threw his hands in the air. She was probably his superior. After much shouting from Shepard and death-threats from Wrex, the two doctors came down from the office with their hands in the air.

* * *

><p>A loud groan from behind Shepard confirmed that Atlas had awoken. He stumbled to his feet clumsily, he had a nasty bruise on the left of his forehead, Atlas was definitely gonna feel that in the morning.<p>

Wrex had all the prisoners at gun-point. Atlas and Shepard were going to check the ship out.

The ship was a mess; it was filled with crates filled with useless scrap metal and electronics. Although Atlas said he knew people who could make useful stuff out of it. That would come later though.

"Alright" Atlas begun "You need to gather the rest of your crew so we can leave."

"About that," Atlas raised in eyebrow. "I couldn't get Tali to come with us; the admirals of the Migrant fleet have denied her leave from her assignment."

Atlas considered this for a moment. Then, by the look on his face, found a way around the problem. "No problem." he said.

From nowhere a voice appeared from the room "Welcome new users of the Normandy-Mark II. My name is EDI, how may I assist you?"

Atlas drew his pistol, look around frantically; both men thought the ship was empty.

"Show yourself!" he exclaimed.

EDI popped up in a holographic state in front of him at the console to the left of the Galaxy map.

"Apologies, I did not mean to startle you, I am a new addition to the ship installed by Cerberus in order to assist with the Captain and pilot of the ship."

Shepard decided the best course of action was to enquire further, he might learn more about Cerberus's secrets. "They installed a VI on the ship?"

EDI replied almost instantly, "Incorrect. I am a fully self-aware Artificial Intelligence unit. I am in complete control of my own actions and decisions as opposed to a VI which follows a set of logical command-code."

Atlas whistled, "Wow, I've never seen an active AI unit before, but how can we be sure that you will not alert Cerberus of our actions here?"

"My sensors detected the fight outside the ship, I thought this was a raid, but rest assured. My loyalties lie to those that have my best interests in mind. Not necessarily Cerberus."

Atlas snorted in disbelief, "Yeah, well we'll see about that."

EDI disappeared; hopefully she wouldn't be a problem.

Shepard and Atlas split off to search different parts of the ship, connected via Omni-tool comms.

Atlas called Shepard down to the cargo bay. He'd found a prison cell. Shepard called in Wrex to lead the prisoners down there. Atlas said he'd deal with them later; hopefully he could get them to convert. If not, they'd just throw them out of the nearest airlock, like you do.

Before long Chakwas and 61 armed humans and Turians in black uniforms arrived at the dock, they were Atlas's mercs, and he'd told him that they'd need a crew for whatever project Atlas had been planning. Shepard would really have to ask him about that later, he was eager to know when he'd get back into his old life of trouble-making and shit-stirring. One Turian had the still unconscious Joker hung over his shoulder. Atlas simply told him to put him in the crew's quarters until he wakes.

It filled Shepard with happiness to be back on the ship. _His _ship. Nobody could tell him otherwise. Before long two of Atlas's lieutenants had arrived at the dock. Atlas introduced them. A Salarian ex-STG soldier named Lorne, and a Vorcha engineer named Keethes, everyone else however simply nicknamed him 'Spanners'. Atlas introduced them to Shepard.

Atlas conducted the introduction. "This is my former spy in the STG, Lieutenant colonel Lorne. One of the best troops I've ever known and an equally good tactician." Lorne and Shepard shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. Lorne was a nice guy. "How do you do?" asked Lorne. "Pleased to meet you." confirmed Shepard.

Keethes wasn't what you'd expect a Vorcha to be like, he was rather polite to be one truth be told. This is probably why he was in Atlas's employ.

They shook hands, though Shepard felt very uncomfortable gripping those claws of his, they were covered in dried out oil from all the vehicles he'd worked with. But he was wearing thick rubber gloves, so what kind of damage could he do? 'A lot probably' Shepard mused.

"You're Shepard? Huh, Vorcha hear a lot about you, I know by the way you had to kill some of my brethren back on Elysium. I apologise on their behalf, we are naturally aggressive, but I however, am quite a bit more practical."

Shepard had to try very hard not to laugh at the saliva rolling around his fangs in his widely exposed mouth. It was like watching tooth paste tubes get squeezed in a washing machine. He managed to hold it in. Just barely. Besides, he didn't want to piss off Spanners when he was so polite to him.

* * *

><p>Once the introductions were over with, Atlas assembled all essential crew into the boardroom; it was time to hear whatever mad quest he had cooked up.<p>

The entire essential staff consisted of Shepard and Atlas, Doctor Chakwas, Joker, Wrex, Lorne, Spanners, and one Turian and one human guard either side of the doors. Dressed in their black uniforms and armed with rifles.

Atlas waited until everyone in the room was silent before he began his speech.

"My friends, you and I are gathered here today, because we are sick and tired of the shit that the so-called 'government' dump on us daily!"

"Except for Chakwas and Joker, they're just here for the cookies." Causing most people in the room to chuckle, even Wrex. Quite the achievement making a Krogan giggle.

"This is what being a successful pariah is all about! We spit in the council's face, then turn around and lay the same gesture to the Alliance! We follow the needs of the few! Fuck what people think of us! We're too busy drinking luxury Asari champagne on a luxury yacht in a 200 acre swimming pool on a fucking cruise ship!"

Atlas now had everyone in the room captivated, it was a very cool image. 'He's good!' Shepard thought, 'I think I made the right choice.'

Shepard stood up, "So Atlas, what are going to do?"

Atlas switched from his Obama-like diplomacy stance, into his normal lunatic persona. Grinning from ear to ear.

"Simple." he said, "We want to be respected, we need resources, we need money, and we need new hands."

Shepard gave him a questioning look, Atlas elaborated on it.

"We need to takeover Omega." he said, and from his tone, he sounded completely serious.

**(A/N) I would just like to apologise for the delay in this update. My science teachers have been up my arse recently with course work. But once it's all over hopefully I can write more often. Joey, Dan and Osborn. I will buy you each a donut if you can remember who Spanners is based off of.**

**Bye for now friends, here's some friendly advice.**

**Eat cheese every day.**


	5. Ace in the hole

**(A/N) Sorry for the cliff-hanger earlier. But now you know one of the main reasons for why I created this story, I've never read a fanfic story where Shepard takes over Omega. I kinda want to start a trend. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, because it's just beginning.**

Disclaimer: Nothing but the plot and a few misc. characters belong to me.

"Speech" 'Thoughts'

_Atlas's P.O.V_

_Aboard the Normandy, The Terminus systems, Tuesday 12:03_

Well, it had happened. It took a while but it happened. Atlas was finally ready to embark on his crazed crusade to take that bitch Aria down. It wasn't anything personal, but annoying her would be an added bonus. He'd been doing it for months, hiring the Eclipse mercs to destroy her warehouses, pirating her shipments over space, and even kidnapping her favourite strippers. Keeping her angry was one of Atlas's hobbies.

When he had announced his plan in the boardroom everyone in the room was understandably shocked; Shepard most of all.

"I thought you were crazy Atlas, but I didn't think you were stupid!" is what Shepard had said to him.

The bloody cheek, Shepard has no idea of the extent of the mastery of this plan. It had been in his mind for eleven years, it was a master-piece, and it was considered a suicide mission. Shepard really had to learn to place some faith in his allies.

Atlas obviously had his own reasons for wanting Omega, but what puzzled Atlas was how Shepard couldn't see the benefits, arguably it wasn't Shepard's fault, but he had to learn that if you want big rewards, you need to take big risks.

The only people who weren't shocked were Spanners and Lorne, who had knew about it almost as long as Atlas. Lorne was to use some of the Salarian contacts he knew to get as much blackmail dirt on Aria and form a relationship with the Salarian Mafia. Meanwhile Spanners was acting ambassador of Atlas to the Omega Vorcha colony. Those creatures may be stupid, but they're tough! Luckily, Spanners possessed both brawn and brains. If Atlas and Shepard could get those two powers under their thumbs, the battle for Omega would already be half-won.

It had been little over two weeks after Atlas had finally managed to crack Shepard down into coming along with him. It was in his best interest too, he'd get enough resources and men to take down the Reapers three times over, and after that they'd party over and over, everyone wins!

Neither of the two crime lords had actually bothered to interrogate the prisoners yet. They were too busy relaxing before they got their shit together, in the meantime they had sent Wrex down to feed them any left overs the replicator had. That was something else that needed work, even Cerberus had to put up with the _Normandy_'s shitty military-grade cookery apparatus. It was starting to give Atlas acid reflux.

Shepard seemed to be getting along well with his new company. He and Lorne spent a lot of time together talking about two people who they'd rather bang. He also seemed to be rather a hit with the mercs. He'd often see them crowded together with Shepard telling stories about his military exploits or jokes, by military exploits, I of course mean the women he banged in the academy.

What really surprised Atlas was how well he got on with Spanners. He was a good guy, never bothered anyone. But that was the thing, he never spoke to anyone. He was always on his own lying on a skateboard underneath a sky car or Mako. When he wasn't doing that he was just chewing ham sandwiches awkwardly in the corner. Atlas had known Spanners since he was born; he bought him from his mother on a mining colony as a new-born and raised him five years ago. It was good to see him flourish with a friend as Atlas really saw him as a sort of son.

They had all set off in relatively high spirits. Rations and Eezo were all good. The mercs were happy with their wages. Wrex was always playing Pac-man happily in the corner, although he struggled until Shepard taught him how to increase the size of the Omni-tool keys, Wrex's thumbs were huge! Atlas and Shepard seemed to be nailing the plan, they had already thought of three different tactics to enter Omega, and Atlas had just received the last dossier on his data pad. It was time for our two protagonists to go hire some new blood.

_Shepard's P.O.V_

Things were all going well, too well. There had to be a way for this to cock up. There just had to be, it was known all over the Galaxy that if you fucked with Aria, you'd end up in a body bag on your way to the incinerator. But Atlas had reassured him that when he sets his mind on something, Atlas always eventually prevailed. What Shepard wanted to know was why Atlas seemed so keen on getting to Omega, he had to ask him.

"Hey Atlas, Can I ask you a question? Why do you want Omega so badly?" Shepard asked.

Atlas didn't look up from his data pad. But the lights in his goggles narrowed, he was thinking about what he'd just heard. But he didn't look up.

"An excellent question John, but there are a number of factors as to why I want to."

"Such as?" Shepard enquired further.

Atlas looked up from his data pad. "Money, to stop the Reapers, free lap dances and drinks, to piss off Aria, and simply because I can."

His voice filled with confidence, he was grinning like a maniac as usual.

"That's another thing, why do you dislike Aria so much?"

Atlas chuckled, then shook his head.

"You misunderstand, I don't dislike Aria at all. I simply get a kick out of annoying people who think they can kill me when they really can't. That's why I play _Call of Duty_ a lot."

Shepard nodded, clearly Atlas and Aria had at least some sort of history. He had to admit, Shepard also got a kick out of annoying people, if pissing off Aria was as fun and 'safe' as Atlas made out, he'd get the luxury of getting a job that's also his hobby.

* * *

><p>Atlas passed the data pad over to Shepard he was just reading a moment ago.<p>

"Here, the rest of the crew that we need to assemble to take down Aria, the Reapers and any competition along the way."

Shepard's eyes widened "You never mentioned anything about competition Atlas."

The lights in Atlas's lenses rolled. "I thought it was implied, every merc wants Aria's crown. If he weaken her hold on Omega even the tiniest bit, the competition was gush in like women into a shoe shop."

"Good analogy." Shepard chuckled.

Atlas smiled. "I do my best."

Shepard's smile faded "So….. What competition should we expect once the shit hits the fan?"

Atlas's grin extended into a full-blown smile. He revealed so many teeth he looked like Louis Suarez.

"Mercs mostly, namely the Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood pack. They're the most powerful and dominant gangs in the Terminus and on Omega. But I would imagine the Vorcha may rise up as well as the Salarian Mafia. It's Lorne and Spanner's responsibility to ensure that never happens. I would imagine the Alliance or council would get involved too, it may get messy. But I guarantee we will be on top."

Shepard cocked his head to the side, things were getting a little confusing now. "How d'ya know that?"

Atlas shuffled in his seat. Into a sort of story-telling stance.

"Simple, Aria is going to hand over all of her defensive assets to us. Put that with our mercs, the mercs we can round up from Omega and who knows what else, we'll have an army to protect Omega with."

Shepard raised an eye-brow "What makes you think she'll just give Omega to us?"

Atlas smiled "Don't worry about that now, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Shepard smiled, clearly Atlas had the whole thing planned out, hell, he was sort of looking forward to it.

* * *

><p>Shepard made his way out of the lift and into the Cargo bay with Wrex. Atlas clearly couldn't be bothered to deal with the prisoners, so Shepard had to. When they approached the cell door Shepard ordered the Guard next to the door to bring down the female operative. She'd been in the Med-bay with Chakwas; she had managed to miraculously survive the bullets that zoomed into her chest. Shepard thought he'd killed her, but apparently she was stronger than he thought.<p>

Since then she had made a steady albeit painful recovery, seven minutes later Shepard saw one pretty blonde guard walking her down the stairs to the cell door where Shepard stood, her pistol aimed at the operative's spinal cord.

She threw the brunette in and she landed on her ass next to the black guy, since he was captured he had told Shepard their names already. Clearly he wasn't as loyal to Cerberus as the other three, possibly a new recruit. Jacob Taylor, he was called, the female operative was named Miranda Lawson and the two techies were Doctor Hadrian Green and Samuel Hancock. Green was an Astrophysicist and Hancock was a master engineer.

Shepard leaned against the cell door gun in hand. Smiling confidently at the foursome of prisoners.

"Alright," he began "This is how it's going to go down."

The two scientists stared at their reflections on the floor. Jacob was playing with his entwined thumbs nervously. Miranda however, wasn't scared at all; she maintained eye-contact with him the whole time.

Shepard noticed this before continuing, "As I'm sure you are aware I got out of prison recently after being sent there for things I haven't actually done. Now I have to survive as a co-Don of a crime family. My partner has reassured me you all possess some form of skill as was observed back on the Citadel. Skill we can make use of."

Green looked up.

"You can't surely be asking us to join you? The Illusive Man will have our heads!" he spoke with a thick Irish accent.

Shepard laughed heartily, making Miranda have to grit her teeth at the sight of her boss getting mocked. But she kept her cool. Shepard couldn't help but mentally laugh at her.

Shepard answered Green's query, "You do realise who you're dealing with? You're dealing with two of the most notorious, and powerful criminals in the galaxy; we will make sure you're taken care of and protected."

Green and the prisoners still didn't look convinced, but luckily, a voice from the back of Shepard's head advised him the best tactic to convert people with. The same technique Atlas used on Shepard back in Coldharbour.

'Do an Atlas! Do an Atlas!' said the voice.

Shepard smiled and resumed speech, "If you refuse to join us, we will throw you out of the airlock. You can die by my hand now or take your chances with the Illusive Man. The answer to me is obvious."

The prisoners looked at each other before sighing and holding their hands up in surrender. Miranda was the last after scowling at them for giving in, but soon she followed suit. She was loyal, but she wasn't going to die for the Illusive Man.

'Good old Atlas technique.' Shepard mused to himself.

Wrex laughed at the sight of them changing their tune so quickly. The prisoners got to their feet and Wrex and the other guard escorted them out of the cargo bay. Shepard left as well; it was time for him to devour some donuts.

* * *

><p><em>Atlas's P.O.V<em>

The afternoon was nice and smooth, just Shepard and Atlas playing _Call of Duty_, munching on donuts and sipping Mountain dew.

Atlas had found out that Shepard had taken it upon himself to speak with the prisoners. He wanted to know how it went.

"So, you went down to the prison cell and spoke to the prisoners, how'd it go?" he asked, right before the game started.

Atlas's PlayStation name was 'Spunky SpongeBob', and Shepard's was 'Commander Shepard 69' as 'Commander Shepard' was already taken by some douchebag from Illium, Shepard was quite annoyed about it.

The game started, Shepard answered Atlas's question while camping in an abandoned building.

"Well," he begun after sipping from his Mountain dew, "Jacob, the male operative was the most co-operative of the two officers, the scientists are too scared to try anything and the other officer, Miranda, seems loyal and reluctantly co-operative, I've placed each one under the watch of two guards at all times and one for each scientist."

Atlas smiled while setting someone on fire with a flamethrower. "Smart, hopefully when we gain their loyalty we can get some dirt on Cerberus, you know, find out where they keep any useful Prothean tech and shit."

Shepard nodded while calling in an airstrike on an open street filled with Russian soviet extremists. This game was so addictive it was starting to eat too far into his work time.

Eventually the game ended with the scoreboard reading S.A.S 62 points and Soviets 53. Atlas was pissed off at his K.D ratio being ruined by the game.

* * *

><p>Shepard's P.O.V<p>

Shepard and Atlas were sat together in the boardroom of the ship. Shepard had just remembered all this time he'd forgotten to read the second data pad. He pulled it out and begun reading while Atlas was typing away at something on his laptop.

Shepard read the e-mail on the data pad.

_Boss,_

_I've been on Illium for the past four days like you ordered, I've found out about another two peoples of interest that may be suitable officers for your payroll, an Asari warrior named Samara and a Drell assassin named 'Thane Krios', an information broker named 'Liara T'soni may be able to tell you more. I shall head to Omega now as you instructed to find any fighters disloyal to Aria, it won't be easy, but I know the harder my job, the more you will compensate me._

_Good luck,_

_Hannibal._

Shepard closed the data pad. Liara was on Illium, as an information broker? Sounds a little out-of-character for her, but she probably has her reasons.

Atlas noticed he'd finished reading.

"Hannibal is a very reliable informant isn't he? If it weren't for him I would be no-where near where I am now. In this business, information is key."

Shepard nodded; hopefully these two individuals would make valuable officers to the team.

* * *

><p>Shepard approached the Galaxy map on the main deck.<p>

"Joker, EDI, set course for Illium; before we head to Omega we will be taking an unexpected detour."

Joker sighed and mumbled to himself through the intercom, he was still annoyed he'd ended up a fugitive working for the two most wanted humans in the Galaxy.

Shepard sighed, "Stop moping Joker, you're getting triple your pay for the same amount of work you do for the Alliance and you get your precious ship back, life is going pretty fucking well for you!"

Joker sighed again, "I'm sorry Commander, wait, do I still call you 'Commander' now?"

Shepard thought for a moment, before remembering his new crime lord code-name.

"No Joker, my new code-name is 'Ace'.

It was Atlas's idea mainly, he wanted Shepard to have a code-name beginning with the letter 'A'. Shepard thought 'Ace' was pretty cool sounding.

Joker thought for a moment, "Ace huh? Well you're the boss, Ilium it is."

Atlas stepped out of the elevator and stood alongside Ace.

Shepard thought for a moment before a revelation hit Shepard, he asked Atlas.

"Atlas, 'Atlas' isn't your real name is it?"

Atlas smiled before replying "No, dear boy, it isn't."

"So what is your real name?"

Atlas grinned inanely before giving the answer Shepard expected to hear.

"I'll tell you another day."

**(A/N) As I'm sure you've worked out, although this is an AU story, the Reaper plot-line is still in place. So we will be going to round up our old pals and taking down the Collectors, I will mix in some of my own stuff here and there as well. Before we reach the place I know you're all really waiting to get to. Omega.**

**Bye for now friends, oh and don't forget.**

**Eat cheese every day. I promise you won't get fat.**


	6. Drell's Creed

**(A/N) The story continues, I'm very grateful for all the positive feedback I've received via, reviews and messages etc. I would like to apologise again for the delay in my last chapter, sometimes I look at the 100,000 word stories and wonder "Where do they get their time from?" If any of you have any suggestions as to how you'd like to me to influence the main plot do let me know. While I'm up to my neck with ideas and spending time in the car thinking up ideas I always consider suggestions, I will reference you in the story accordingly of course should I use your material. Anyway, let's get on with the story.**

Review replies:

_Br2nd66_: Good guess, but no.

_The Dead Romantic_: I know. To be honest I only called him 'Ace' simply because I was playing Poker the night before I posted that chapter and I was a tad bit short on ideas. Hopefully that's the last you'll see of my innate lameness. Yeah, I spared Miranda simply because she will be very useful in assisting the Allfathers with Cerberus, and because people like her, I don't personally but as long as my readers are happy, I'm happy.

Disclaimer: Mass Effect ain't mine. Not even a wish upon a star will change that, or so I've found out.

_Atlas's P.O.V_

_The light was bright, too bright for me to open my eyes, the curtains were open. I wasn't alone in the room._

_The voice boomed through his bedroom, the voice I was dreading, carrying nothing but hatred, venom and spite. When would the voice just fuck off and die? Everything else does, particularly if it is innocent, positive and beautiful. But not the voice, it lingers and taunts and feeds off my fear. It was the voice of my father._

_Something else followed the voice, something worse than the voice, the hand. Ripping off my thin blanket and smacking me over the temple._

"_Get up boy! It's only Thursday and already you're skiving and slacking! Get out of the house and make me some fucking money before I make you wish you were never born! It's certainly the way everyone else feels about you!"_

_I got out of bed, to my feet groggily, still hammered from last night, I had to stop wasting my cut of the wages on drink, Dad wasn't going to feed me, I have to take care of myself, right now I was making myself sick and weak._

_And in this world, the sick and weak don't last very long. The streets are unforgiving and harsh, much like most things on Earth. No time for breakfast, money doesn't make itself. _

_S_

_When did my life go wrong you may be asking? The answer is, well, since I was born._

_I was used to this existence, it's all I know, if you succeed at your day, you live for the next one, if you don't, you suffer. Dearly._

_But now wasn't the time for a sob-story. If you wish to survive on the streets of Johannesburg, you must be optimistic, but not delusional. No room for too much hope, you won't get anywhere by wishing your life away. You want something, you go and get it. Which isn't entirely unfair, I just wish I had a head-start like everyone else did._

_What I didn't realise was how dramatically my life was going to change over the next few decades. They say the greatest Titans of our age only come from the most humble of origins; I most certainly was one of them. I was Earthborn._

_S_

_I rushed down the street and into a nearby alleyway, narrow, non-descript. Safe I dare say. The police wouldn't find me, they'd call off the search, they didn't catch a look at my face, I was wearing a black bandana over the bottom-half of my face. I was going to be fine._

_I went through the shopping bag, there was about $1,674 dollars' worth of South African rand in there, plus a Yorkie bar I snagged on my way out of the corner shop I was holding up._

_That's when she approached me. She was one of those creatures, aliens. What was their species called? They had blue skin. Tentacles for hair, many of them were exceptionally beautiful; I had always wanted to speak to a girl, but that's hard when the closest you had to a wingman was an abusive father. And unfortunately I was no Beau Brummel; I was an adolescent human with a knife in my pocket and a gleam of ambition in my eye. No special outward properties. I had no womanizer charm and no picturesque face. I was average, and passive, and mute._

_She was so beautiful though; rich dark blue skin, white tattoos across her fore head and temples, and few smaller lines to the sides of her chin, creating graceful swirls and patterns. She looked about 17 in human years. She wore casual clothing, a black tank top and jeans a shade lighter than her own skin colour. A white arm band hugged her right wrist. Her greatest accessory was her predatory smile and her eyes drinking in the sight of me like I was a piece of meat. It unsettled me a little._

_The question, it was forming in the pit of her stomach, it would be a while before it would climb up her throat, dance on her tongue and reach my ears. The question which lead me to become the man I was….. wait, this isn't me….. this was… before…._

* * *

><p><em>Aboard the Normandy, Attican Traverse – 06:14<em>

Atlas opened his eyes and sat up on the bed, breathing deeply and glistening with sweat; he looked like Lee Evans after a show.

He was in the Captain's cabin with Shepard, who was asleep on the Captain's double bed in the master bedroom. Atlas was on a sofa-bed in the lounge. He liked sofa-beds, perfect for sleeping and slacking off in front of the TV.

His dream, it was so real, so genuine, like it actually happened.

Oh wait, it did.

Atlas got up from his bed, he'd never get back to sleep now, and it was considered unhealthy to overdose on melatonin, or any medicine, curse his sleeping problem! He sneaked into the kitchen of the cabin, careful not to wake Ace. He needed something to eat. Cereal; nothing gives hunger the finger more than Cornflakes. At least that was his opinion.

Atlas was going crazy trying to get the memory out of his head, Kayla was gone, she'd never come back, same goes for everyone else from _that time_.

Just stare at the Cornflakes, the safety of the Cornflakes, orange, crispy, soggy after prolonged contact with milk.

His Omni-tool pinged. It was EDI sending him a message that they'd be at Illium in three hours. EDI was under strict instructions to send these messages as texts and not intercom announcements between sleeping times in order not to wake anyone off-duty. Something she had to be taught to do after she woke the entire ship because of a minor gas leak.

So close, he was so close to fulfilling his master plan, Omega would be his and Shepard's, he'd be happy. He'd be… content. Something he never though he would ever think about, he was never content; he always wanted more and more. But he just seemed content with Omega, maybe he was just being lazy.

* * *

><p><em>Shepard's P.O.V<em>

_8:20_

Shepard woke up to the smell of bacon playing 'Ahh! Bisto' in his nose. Atlas must be making breakfast.

He slowly rose from the sheets and walked towards the bathroom. After a long, hot shower he went to his wardrobe, picking out his favourite Superdry jacket and a pair of jeans and trainers.

He walked out of the bedroom to see Atlas behind the kitchen counter frying-pan in hand sizzling bacon strips with eggs on top. He was wearing a black short sleeved shirt revealing a long, intricate black tribal tattoo stretching from his biceps to his right wrist on his right arm. He wore a black leather glove on his left hand at all times, tied to his arm by a black leather gauntlet with large straps round the bottom half of his left arm. He hadn't noticed how long it was before, but now that Atlas was wearing a short-sleeved shirt it stuck out like a sore thumb. Shepard had asked about it, Atlas said it was a custom made cast/gauntlet/glove after he received a massive electric burn along his lower left arm in an accident.

He turned around and spotted Shepard. He was dancing along to _Harder Better Faster Stronger _as he was frying the breakfast. Sometimes Shepard wondered how someone as childish and laidback as Atlas managed to become one of the most feared humans in the Galaxy, he was like a child in an adult's body. Atlas was known to torture his enemies in ways no one would dare to think of, and here he was dancing along to _Daft Punk_? Split-personality disorder perhaps? He does seem a little mentally unhinged.

"Morning sunshine!" he said as he chucked some white bread into the toaster. Shepard was thankful that in the past few days they had time to upgrade the _Normandy_'s cookery apparatus. The mercs however, were a little jealous about it, ungrateful bastards.

Shepard took a seat at one of the three stools overlooking the counter. Before long, a plate of delicious, steaming heart attack was before him. Atlas took a seat opposite him and served himself some fry-up.

"So," Atlas begun, playing with his fork upon the egg yolk, "I trust you are fitting your new career well John?"

Shepard looked up from his bacon, "Yeah, it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. I dare say I enjoy my new job."

Atlas gave a lopsided grin; Shepard had forgotten to say something.

Shepard quickly remembered, "As long as we don't have to kill any innocents Atlas. No rampages or massacres or I'm leaving." He added, half-stern, half-jokingly.

The lights in Atlas's goggles rolled, he was clearly expecting him to make a moral bitch-up. But Atlas seemed content with Shepard having a conscience, the killer with a conscience. Shepard liked that little saying, it was fitting.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, Joker's Chris Griffin voice sounded through the intercom.<p>

"All hands grab on to something, we're approaching the Mass relay! Ace, you may want to find a toilet or a sick-bag!"

That was all the warning Shepard needed, he was in the Crew's quarters at the time, he rushed into the Men's bathroom quick as he could.

* * *

><p>Ace, Atlas and Wrex walked out of the airlock an into the Illium spaceport. Atlas had given Shepard his new armour, it was very similar to his old N7 Onyx one but it had a blue stripe on the side as opposed to his old red one. On the Blue stripe was a black ace symbol from a poker card. Furthermore the N7 emblem on his right breast was replaced by a skull encased in a triangle made of three pieces. Atlas said that was to be their new logo for when they find Garrus, it was to be symbolic towards their triangular criminal partnership.<p>

Atlas was wearing his usual armour; a simple black shirt and pair of black jeans packaged in a long, black leather duster coat. He said he didn't need armour or shields, he had kinetic barrier generators grafted into his skin granting him a close proximity personal shield, apparently Atlas was full of surprises. They both wore death masks to conceal their identities.

They three were greeted by two armed Asari and an unarmed one wearing a tacky dress holding a data pad that she was reading.

She looked up and addressed the newcomers with an enthusiastic expression on her face.

"Hello gentlemen, welcome to the wonderful Asari city-colony that is Illium. We are here to inform you that administrator T'soni has cleared you of all of your admission fees and charges; you are free to enter."

"Thanks" Shepard replied. Atlas gave a grateful nod.

The three Asari turned to leave; the unarmed one had a puzzled look on her face, like she was trying to remember where she'd met these two. Their wanted posters must be around Council space as well as the Alliance space by now, and they likely had all their features listed, but Luckily Shepard, Atlas and Wrex would be long gone before she'd figure it out.

Shepard had never been to Illium before; it was considered one of the finer places to live in the Galaxy. Fancy restaurants and clubs, immaculately clean streets and low-ish crime rates in most areas.

They made their way through the financial district to a large sign that read 'Administration' this must be the entrance to Liara's office. An Asari receptionist stood at the bottom of the stairs to greet them and lead them up to the office.

The door to the office slid open with a slight hiss, revealing a very tired and pale-looking Liara sat behind a desk typing away mindlessly at a computer. She had her head resting on her left fist, trying to work and get some micro-sleep at the same time. Quite a challenge.

Her eyes widened upon seeing Shepard and company enter. She got up from her desk and ran over to him enveloping him in a gentle hug. Clearly happy to see him, luckily, she also gave Wrex a gingerly handshake, probably nervous he was going to rip her arm off. Atlas just stood there in the corner waving her off when she attempted to greet him.

"Shepard! It's good to see you! Listen, about your trial I-"

Shepard stooped her midsentence.

"Liara, don't worry, I know that you know what happened, I don't blame you for anything. I'm just glad to see an old friend again."

She smiled warmly before returning to her computer behind her desk.

"I know why you're here Shepard, simply tell me who you wish to speak to and I'll give you all the necessary information. Free of charge."

Atlas requested to be excused before leaving the office, Shepard was to get the necessary information while Atlas would shake down any merchants or bar patrons for additional info.

At request Liara uploaded the necessary info of Thane and Samara onto Shepard's Omni-tool.

Before Shepard left he decided to ask about whether she'd like to join them in his new enterprise. He was met with a stonewall.

"Shepard, as much as I'd love to go travelling around with you like all times I'm very busy, I have my own project to work on…. It's complicated."

Shepard smiled warmly before placing hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry Liara, I understand. If you need anything, let me know."

She smiled back, "Thanks."

Shepard felt a lot worse now, first Tali and now Liara. He didn't want to pressure Liara; she clearly had a lot on her plate right now, even if Shepard didn't actually care about whatever she was doing. She was useless.

* * *

><p>Their time on Illium was going smoother than Shepard could have anticipated. Hardly anyone recognized them. Atlas even had the balls to stand next to one of his posters in the same pose he was doing on the poster with his mask off. The Spock sign. Thank god nobody was looking or things would go sour real fast.<p>

They approached the woman Liara told them to go see in order to find the Drell assassin 'Thane Krios'. An Asari named Seryna, who used to work for the head of a business that Krios was assigned to assassinate named 'Nessana'. If things went as planned, they'd reach Krios before he disappears after killing her, as he was always known to do.

She looked up from her desk, realising she had visitors.

"So, you're the group that Liara said was looking for me? I must admit, you look a little unseasoned to take on the security force that Nessana has posted."

Atlas took a step forward.

"Which mercenary company exactly has she turned to?" he asked.

A smirk appeared on her face, "The Eclipse. She knows a few of the high-ranking Eclipse members and so she trusts that they will keep her safe."

Atlas shook his head before replying. "How wrong she is. The Eclipse wouldn't know an ass from an elbow. I could take down a hundred of them with my trigger-hand tied behind my back."

Seryna smiled, "Unfortunately for her, she doesn't know that. Before I help you get into the building, may I ask what your intentions are with the assassin who is attempting to kill Nessana. Are you here to stop him? Help him? Race him in killing her?"

Shepard shook his head before replying, "We are just here to collect the assassin, and we have needs of his expertise. We don't really care about Nessana."

She nodded in acknowledgement before gesturing them to follow her to her sky car.

* * *

><p><em>Atlas's P.O.V<em>

The sky car zoomed across Illium before the twin towers Nessana was hiding in came into view. It was a pretty sight, shame they were probably going to be razed to the ground in a few minutes. But that really depended on the ordinance that the Eclipse were carrying. Usually with private security jobs they were armed with explosives. Oh how fun this was going to be, he had dealings with their leader, Jona Sederis. She was a card, one of the more successful and sophisticated mercs he'd come across. She was a decent shag too.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for her men. They were about as sharp as bricks. Atlas never got bored of killing the ones that had the balls to try and claim his bounty. The audacity! His bounty was 31 million credits for a reason! Yet people still thought they could take him, sometimes you really do despair of the people around you.

Atlas's thoughts were interrupted when Seryna announced. "There's the landing pad, I hope you have other modes of transportation, I won't be here to take you back. Things to do and stuff."

Atlas nodded to Shepard. "It's fine, I can organise someone to come pick us up, or maybe we can leave with whatever mode of transportation Thane came here with. He probably has a sky car parked somewhere."

* * *

><p>Nessana must have really been concerned for her safety, there was practically an army stationed at this tower, but they were Eclipse. Sworn enemies to Atlas, he would show them neither remorse nor mercy, he's kind of a dick like that. The three had run into two groups of Salarian civilians on the way, three if you count the one group that got gunned down by the security robots outside the building before Shepard and company got within five steps of the property. Atlas however found it pretty funny; he even said to Wrex that he wished he had brought popcorn. Wrex thought the same; he hated the Salarians for obvious reasons, even if these particular ones were not responsible for the Genophage. The other two surviving groups were escorted to safety by Shepard while Atlas and Wrex continued to gun down the mercs. Shepard re-joined them some time later halfway up the first tower.<p>

At the top of the first tower after stepping out of the elevator they had encountered a lone merc, their original intention was to interrogate him, but that proved useless. So Wrex picked him up and threw him out of the window. Shepard only wished he could see the looks on people's faces when they find him splattered across the pavement, it would be like Road kill, only ten times funnier.

At the bridge from the first tower to the second was a large blockade filled with men and women in Eclipse uniforms. From their stances and their not firing of their weapons, they were clearly a negotiating party.

Atlas hated negotiations. It usually meant his intended body count for a job was lower than intended. He took no pleasure or pride in killing, but his repressed anger, trauma and slight insanity would not let him be as merciful as his victims and subordinates would prefer. His subconscious demanded blood, no matter the colour. Plus, it kept his aim sharp.

The leader of the twenty mercs stepped forward. Human, Puerto Rican, dark hair pulled back into a ponytail. Looks like the kind of guy who'd expect you to buy him a drink on your first night hanging out with him. Ergo, this man had to be an asshole; his aura practically screamed 'I'm a dick!' Well, let's see what he had to say for himself.

"That's close enough! I don't know who you people are but you made a serious mistake coming here and screwing with the Eclipse. Identify yourselves immediately! Try anything stupid and we will open fire on you!"

Atlas laughed heartily, stepping toward them. Undoing his mask while he walked, revealing his face. Two of the mercs behind the barrier stepped back, a Salarian and an Asari, looking like they were about to run away until three other human mercs behind them clicked their guns to remind them that cowardice in the Eclipse isn't an option.

The leader stood in front, his pistol shaking rather visibly in his hands, Atlas couldn't help but lightly chuckle, this guy must be mentally checking his pants for shit right now. That's one of the perks you get as an evil mob boss, mercs and bounty hunters go from raging berserkers to frightened children in a matter of seconds. It's like white hot iron bars being plunged into ice cold water. They simply shatter into a thousand pieces.

Atlas grinned insanely "Be afraid motherfucker, be very afraid."

The man started stuttering in apology "M-Mr Atlas? All is well I h-hope? What can I do for you sir?"

Atlas widened his grin, staring at the man in the eye. Atlas could be very scary when he wanted to be, and he knew it.

Before long he replied, "Well sir, I was wondering if you could spare me the trouble of getting the fuck out of my way. I have an appointment with Nessana, so….if you wouldn't mind…." Flinging his hands forward performing the 'Get the fuck outta my way' gesture.

The merc widened his eyes before resuming speech "You know I can't do that sir! Orders are-"

"Wrong answer." Atlas cut him off upholstering his revolver and shooting him point blank in the face. Wrex and Shepard followed suit pulling out their weapons and laying hellfire down on the air-headed pricks. Everyone on the street below looked up at the building upon hearing the sounds of aliens screaming followed by gunshots.

Wrex couldn't help but laugh as the three tip toed over the deceased mercs and over the bridge across to the opposite building and into the office that squatted at the top of it.

* * *

><p><em>Shepard's P.O.V<em>

The three entered the office lead by Shepard. He couldn't take it any longer, he removed his death mask, they're just so stuffy! Kind of like Paintball masks but like, three times worse.

They strode confidently into the office, in a manner that screamed 'We're here to play the game, but we don't actually have to because we've already won.' Just like they had rehearsed on the _Normandy _earlier. Atlas said it was a great way to scare people subtly, so they think you're legit and serious. But at the same time, laidback and uncaring.

The office was rather dingy, it was dimly lit with the blinds over the office window only partially open, enough to see the outside world but somehow closed tight enough to deflect most of the incoming light.

As soon as Shepard entered the office flanked by Wrex and Atlas, he recognized Nessana immediately, he was surprised he didn't recognize her by name earlier; he had a pretty good memory when it came to people.

Nessana was surrounded by six Eclipse gunmen who were her personal security. Four humans and two Asari. Armed with pistols and rifles. Shepard wasn't in the least bit intimidated. They were however when they spotted Shepard's face, a greedy glint entered their eyes at the thought of cashing his bounty followed by a jaw drop when Atlas and Wrex's faces came into view.

Nessana's eyes widened when she spotted Shepard, pointing at him and exclaiming "You! I fucking should have known it would be you they sent to kill me! Obviously killing my sister wasn't enough was it? Now you have to come and finish me off?!"

Shepard smiled before replying "Need I remind you I killed your criminal sister for your benefit? You know, saving your reputation?"

She scowled at him "You despicable bastard… Need I remind _you _that I compensated you very handsomely for helping me, and now you have to come and kill me off?"

Atlas stepped in, "We aren't your assassins, we're just here for the assassin who is about to kill you idiots in five. Four. Three..."

The guards exchanged worried looks at each other. Shepard spied a shadow swoop down from a vent above, backhanding one guard, slapping a pressure point in the neck on another, shooting another three in random but lethal areas and punching the last in the face. By the time Nessana looked around it was too late, she was staring into the face of death.

Atlas finished with a smile "Two…one."

Thane pressed the gun into her stomach before firing, he held her as she went limp in his arms, before laying her body on her desk and folding her arms across her chest. He put his hands together before whispering what sounded like prayers. Shepard couldn't really catch what he was saying save for the last two words. "I'm dying". His voice was very low and throaty, but it was not an unpleasant noise.

"So," Atlas began "The rumours about you are true, that was quite a spectacle. Hannibal does know how to pick 'em."

The Drell looked up and eyed the three men closely. Shepard took one step forward and introduced himself.

"I'm ex-Commander Shepard. We were told that you are one of the most effective and dangerous assassins in the Galaxy, we have a job that has needs of your skills."

The Drell looked away and out the window. Before long he replied.

"I know you are innocent, Shepard. I am not blind, and I see the necessity of you siding with that abomination beside you, you will do whatever it takes to stop the Reapers, even if you must use the most crude methods there are."

Atlas smirked at the word 'abomination'. Shepard raised an eyebrow at it, but didn't question it.

"So… You know what our offer entails?"

The Drell looked back at them and nodded.

"I did speak to Hannibal, he filled me in with the details… this isn't my first time I've worked with and for criminal cartels. I'm not fussy about my employers. But you ask me a great deal to work full-time and exclusively for you. I assume you will ensure I will be adequately reimbursed?"

Atlas smiled, "You bet your scaly ass. Omega's financial reserves will be bottomless."

The Drell smiled slightly, "So it's true, you really are going up against Aria T'Loak. I must admit, this will be one of the most exciting contracts I've ever taken, if only I were younger…"

He looked away before frowning and continuing, "This was meant to be my last job."

He turned back to them and grasped Shepard's hand and then Atlas's.

"I will work for you, Crime lords. My blade is yours, so to speak."

Shepard, Wrex and Atlas all smiled in unison.

**(A/N) Alright, Thane has joined the party! I hope you have enjoyed the story so far. Your criticism and positive feedback have really made me feel better about my looming exams, I would like to apologise for how this chapter is about a week late, I try to update weekly but I have my Christmas mock-exams, so it's hard to do this and revise. But nevertheless I will keep trying to squeeze it all in to an effective timetable.**

**Until next time! Remember.**

**Eat cheese every day.**


	7. Blue Harvest

**(A/N) My god! Sorry I'm late, but on the plus side, my mocks are done! Hopefully I can now return to my nice, neat, normal update routine. I did okay just in case any of you are interested, except in French, but fuck French! I'm English; we don't bother with foreign languages because we're lazy, and before any of you say anything, yes, James Bond is the only Englishman who can speak more than two languages. Let us finish up on Illium and we'll be away to Omega. Warning: From now on, some chapters will contain large chunks of OC and non-OC flashbacks. I know it's a bit late to warn you now, but if you aren't interested in Atlas's backstory, then don't read it, however it is important. Sort of.**

**Oh, one more thing. Before this chapter gets issued I would like to make one thing perfectly clear: No matter what kinds of crazy shit you are about to witness please note that I do not subscribe to Mary Sue characters, whether they be OC or non-OC. This includes Atlas, while he can do real funky shit, remember, he's not invincible. He has weaknesses.**

Review replies: GoldenMauser: Sorry man, but Shepard is now a criminal, the last thing he'd need is children with anyone. But Miranda is on the cards for a relationship. Anymore reviews from anyone on the matter would be extremely helpful. And as for the Kaidan/Ashley matter? Well, we'll see, but I ain't no miracle worker.

Disclaimer: Nothing but the plot and OCs are mine, you know this; please don't sue me into poverty! Have you seen university tuition fees these days? They're fucking ludicrous!

_I can't be bothered with my usual "Speech" 'Thoughts' reminder anymore, you guys know the drill._

_Nessana towers, Illium, Inner Council space – 14:27_

_Shepard's P.O.V_

Scratch Thane off the wish list, they only needed that Asari fighter named 'Samara' and they'd be off on their merry quest to remove a certain purple person from a seat of power. Shepard was rather excited over the whole affair right now, at first he'd been anxious about it, then a little concerned, and then Atlas's words finally sank in. They were going to have the time of their lives spilling blood all over the station! And according to Atlas, Omega was basically the Las Vegas of the Milky Way, a city/station drowning in filth, vice and sin. It was paradise, or at least in their eyes it was. Of course it had its drawbacks. Over 70 different breeds of STDs were crawling over that station, so Omega came with strings, but just ignore the strings….. ah, Omega, she's perfect.

Shepard's thoughts were interrupted by leather-hugged fingers clicking in his face.

"Yo, John! You in there? We need to get going, it's only a matter of time before the police notice something's off… or the huge column of smoke we left on the opposite tower."

Shepard was immediately catapulted back into reality. "What?"

Atlas sniggered, "Look out the window." he said, pointing towards the blind covered windows.

The opposite building was speckled with flames, bullet-punctured glass and smoke billowing off the top, Atlas was right, these mercs are really clumsy when it comes to heavy weaponry.

Shepard sniggered, "Wow, you were right Atlas, Eclipse mercs can't aim for shit!"

Atlas smiled, "I'm not often wrong, John."

Thane cleared his throat to get their attention. "We had best leave before the police get here, I've parked a sky car in the parking lot below the building, we just need to take the elevator all the way down to the bottom floor.

* * *

><p>Thane's car was the shit, it looked like a cross between the 'Back to the future' DeLorean and that weird vampire car from 'Daybreakers'. They walked towards it at a brisk pace, the entire lot seemed empty, there wasn't a single car in sight other than Thane's. Upon opening the car it looked like someone managed to squeeze MTV cribs into a sky car. Blacked out windows, carbon metallic paintwork, genuine leather interior, custom neon lights and best of all, a soft drinks machine. Shepard and Atlas then took on the heavy task of shoving Wrex into the back, which took a good twenty minutes. Atlas sat in the passenger's seat next to Thane.<p>

"Help yourselves to drinks," said Thane, "They may be a bit warm though, I haven't had the chance to fix the cooling system."

"Thanks." They all said in unison.

"Alright," Atlas began, pulling out the data pad from his bag, "the Intel we got from Liara says that Samara is being held under armed guard at the Police station east of here. She's under a very loose arrest after attempting to meddle in police affairs concerning an Eclipse sisterhood murder case."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "A very _loose _arrest? What does that mean? Is she someone of importance?"

"I doubt it; if she is of importance then Hannibal would mention that her disappearance would not go unnoticed. Undercover Asari commando maybe?"

Shepard looked out the window; they were flying out of the car park now.

"Maybe."

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_Atlas's P.O.V_

_I was walking home from a night of downing beers with Kayla, turns out she's really fun to hang with, I hadn't really had any friends prior to her, the last guy I tried to be friends with ended up dead after my brother beat him to death with a crowbar. I never quite forgave Kent for that._

_You see, I am an Autumn. The Autumn family never, EVER got along, always fighting, always trying to kill each other. Dad never tried to stop any of us; he just locked himself in the attic and drank himself to death. Mom had died giving birth to me so I had no memory of her, but according to my brother Harry, who spills his soul when drunk, she was "An angel shining a light of hope in a world of darkness". There were eight of us all together except for Dad, there was Kane, Jones, William, Kent, Harry, Jim, Nathaniel, and last of all, there was me. I had a name, but I didn't really see any significance in it, people just called me 'Kid' or 'Little bitch', apparently I didn't deserve a proper name._

_ All the Autumns did when they weren't 'working' was trying to crack each other's skulls, each of them doing so in artistic ways; the only person we all didn't fight was Kane. The oldest, and toughest, some say he killed a man with his bare hands one fateful night after he was high on some of that alien junky-dust, 'Red sand' they called it. He was more or less our leader, his word was law. If he ordered you to run, you would ask "How far?"_

_When we weren't trying to kill each other we were bullying and beating people in the street, almost everyone in Johannesburg was scared of the Autumns, we held up shops, burnt down the occasional house, cooked meth, we even killed people we didn't like, in very brutal fashions. Some called us a street gang, but we were just opportunists, when you grow up in a place as harsh and (at the time) lawless as Johannesburg, you can hardly expect your neighbours to welcome you with open arms. They're far more likely to push an AK-47 into your face._

_The only people who weren't afraid of the Autumns were the Greysons. They were a rival 'family business' gang that dated back to the American 1930s who, unlike the Autumns, also tried to acquire money and power through legitimate business as well as crime, a few years ago they built a very large obsidian coloured clubhouse in the centre of town, they called it 'The Grey house'. I'd never been there, and as far as I knew no Autumn had, it apparently was supposed to be a very swanky joint though, Kane was furious when he found out how much money they were making a year from The Grey house alone. Every time an Autumn or a Greyson were in the same building or, no scratch that, the same street block, it usually ended in a riot. Johannesburg was divided; you either supported the barbaric Autumns, or the corporate-scumbag Greysons. EVERYONE was involved in these fights, and those who didn't pick a side didn't last very long._

_We Autumns however dated all the way back to the 1950s, our ancestors were supposedly a gang of toughs from England who got so high on LSD that they moved to Johannesburg and thought they were all family because of how fucked in they were, they never returned to Britain._

_I however tried to keep myself as far from my brothers as possible, while we all hated each other, they certainly hated me the most, mainly because "I am the reason mother is dead", that and I wasn't as brutal as the rest of them, sure I robbed and killed people, but I wasn't cut out for the Thug life, I wanted to be a proper sophisticated crime figure. Wear a suit, work in an office, maybe even get a golden gun, it'd be cool to regard my pistol as a novelty item. But no, I couldn't do any of that stuff, because A: I had no money or connections to even reach that stage, and B: I couldn't have a golden gun because I'm not Ali G._

_I had reached home, or what the Autumns called home at least, an abandoned opera theatre downtown, it used to belong to an old Italian gang from the early 20__th__ century. No one knew why they left it, the Autumns certainly didn't question it, it was better than where we used to live, in a warehouse in the industrial estate. The Autumns had fixed the place up nicely though, except the outside, we kept it looking abandoned to make ourselves look like tough guys, and on the side of the theatre, we had graffitied our symbol on the wall, an orange dying leaf. _

_The inside however wasn't so bad, stolen portraits, silk curtains, after robbing a very large electronics store we managed to loot some cool new TVs as well as a brand new coffee machine. Plus stuff that was here when we found the theatre, advertisements for 'The Phantom of the Opera', rich red-coloured carpets that seemed intact, and in the reception area was a large marble statue of Phil Collins, no one knew why._

_I walked past the large waiting area that we had transformed into our living room when Kane rose from his seat, eyeing me dangerously, did he want to fight? Punish me just for existing? No, fate had other plans._

"_Hey, shitbrick! Front and centre!"_

_I did as I was told, Kane was surrounded by the other Autumns, who were all smiling, the trademark Autumn crazy-smile, all Autumns had at least a hint of crazy in them, it was an unavoidable genetic curse, or it could have been all that meth they smoked day in and day out._

_Kane was huge! Standing at a good six ft. seven, all Autumns were tall, but he was a giant! His muscles were well toned, he wore no shirt, never did. A long river of black tattoos stretched down his chest and abdomen. Every Autumn had a tattoo on him somewhere._

_Little did I know that at this moment in time was my life about to take a radical turn, for the worst._

"_You fancy making yourself some real money, little brother?" he spoke in a booming voice that made could make a grown man piss his pants._

_End of flashback_

Atlas awoke with a jerk, Thane looked to the left, eyeing him curiously, and then looking front ahead again.

Okay, these visions are _really_ getting out of hand, what were these strange apparitions he kept on seeing? Was it his life from before? Or was it just a dream? Ever since his… awakening, he had no idea as to what was real and what wasn't.

Shepard noticed Atlas's discomfort, "You okay Atlas?"

Atlas smiled, things were okay, it doesn't matter who he was then. He's Atlas now, always will be.

"Never better, John." he lied.

* * *

><p><em>Shepard's P.O.V<em>

They had reached their destination, from the looks of it, the entire area was under police quarantine, upon leaving the sky car, they witnessed a very angry looking Volus walking away after an argument with some Asari policewoman.

Shepard, Wrex and Atlas were to go and question the Asari police while Thane would guard the sky car, Wrex even let him borrow his Pac-man game to play if he got bored, but Thane didn't come across as the kind of guy who gets bored on duty. Plus the car looked pretty expensive, if it belonged to Shepard he'd never let the damn thing out of his sight.

* * *

><p>The Asari detective Anaya eyed Shepard sceptically; she sat upright on her chair. Samara was in the station, luckily she hadn't actually spoken to Shepard or Atlas yet, they were here to recruit her, but that was before they found out she was an Asari Justicar! Even Atlas kept an eye on her, he was discomforted.<p>

Before long detective Anaya spoke up, "So let me get this straight, you three are with Pitne For's trading company, and he's hired you to go and collect his missing accomplice from the Sisterhood enclave beyond the police tape?"

Shepard really didn't know what he was doing anymore, why where they still here? They couldn't take Samara; if she found out who they were she'd crush them! They had to get out.

Atlas stepped in, "That's right ma'am, if you will permit us to conduct our operation we will in return get rid of these mercs and get Samara the name of that ship she mentioned earlier, she'll be out of your hair… or tentacles."

She glared at him, why did Atlas always have to antagonize people they need the support of? How he has survived as long as he had Shepard will never know.

Anaya sighed, "Whatever, I don't care. Just get this Justicar away from me, if I lay a finger on her she has every right to kill me, by her code at least, I have no interest in dying."

The three got up from the chairs and marched out of the room. Samara gave Shepard a look that caused a small bead of sweat to roll down his forehead on their way out; thank god they were wearing deathmasks.

Once they were out of the building Shepard confronted Atlas.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Why are we going after the Sisterhood? We need to get out of here before that damned Justicar notices anything!"

Atlas turned to him, "Think about it Shepard, Asari are the most powerful biotics in the Galaxy, when we take on Omega do you really think the Sisters are going to stay here and carry on their petty operation? No! Every merc will be hot on our asses; we need to take these girls out to save ourselves a problem later. When a fight of this magnitude breaks out Sederis is guaranteed to bust out the Sisterhood, I know her John. The Eclipse are renowned for getting involved in affairs that aren't any of their business."

Shepard sighed in defeat, "Okay, you're right."

Atlas chuckled "I'm always right, Shepard."

Shepard rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>The three walked past into the crime scene without hindrance from the guarding officers at the entrance to the alleyway. They were to spend the next hour shooting through herds of smurfs in tacky yellow outfits.<p>

Within the facility they had come across five masked sisters chatting, they had sat themselves on numerous items such as crates and glass banisters. Completely off guard, easy prey.

Upon entering the main compound area one of the unsuspecting mercs caught sight of them, breaking off from talk with her comrade and raising her weapon at them.

"Hey you! Who the fuck are you?"

Shepard wasn't going to sit by and take that sort of crap from a merc; he took one step and fired a high-impact shot straight at her face. Then ran for cover. Wrex and Atlas followed suit.

The mercs did this same, upholstering their rifles and running for refuge among the scattered crates, "We're under attack!" one of them screamed.

Wrex was cut off from the others when the mercs decided to spread out, he shouted to the others "I have an idea, follow my lead!" he rushed from the creates and sprinted towards the other end of the compound, all the mercs were firing at him, now was their chance.

Shepard leapt from cover and fired his Shuriken SMG at a nearby red barrel with a flame on it, which meant only one thing. A big, glorious boom.

The barrel exploded and blew one merc to smithereens; another two caught fire, and ran around the compound in a painful, brutal dance until they met their end. Only one thought went through Shepard's mind, 'What a waste of good women.' he thought with a grin.

Looking across the room Shepard saw Wrex had shot the fourth merc with his Katana shotgun, and Atlas had curb stomped the fifth and final one, who was attempting to crawl to safety.

"I've always wanted to do that." he said with a chuckle, after he'd caved her head in with the underside of his boot.

* * *

><p>Shepard lead the team across the hall until they reached another door on the side, upon opening it a figure shot up in the air, pistol aimed at Shepard, then lowering it when she saw three other guns aiming for her head.<p>

"Holy shit! Please don't shoot me!"

The merc in front of them was a young Asari, definitely Maiden age, couldn't be any older than… 110? Liara's age, give or take a few years. She had light blue skin, pretty little face. She was cute.

Wrex narrowed his eyes, "That looks to me like an Eclipse uniform, put your hands in the air!"

The girls eyes widened, she then spoke up again, "Wait! I thought it'd be cool to be a mercenary, but it's awful! I've been forced to do things I never thought anyone would ever do to another person! I didn't know what the Eclipse were really like! I thought we just cruised around space shooting criminals and saving lives, but all they do is kill innocents and deal Red sand, they even smuggled out an Ardat-Yakshi off world!"

Shepard looked at her with his head cocked, she replied.

"It means 'Demon of the night winds' I didn't know… I hoped that they weren't real but… it turns out I was wrong."

Atlas sniggered, "Demon of the night winds? That sounds to me like a laxative brand." She just glared at him.

"….. Anyway, I swear it on the Goddess that I do not wish to be affiliated with these people anymore, I just wanna go home!" she said, her eyes filling up with tears.

Shepard was about to step aside to let her go, Atlas however wasn't convinced.

"Wrex, smash up that comms station so she can't radio for help."

Wrex nodded, moving towards it and smashing it with the butt of his shotgun. The girl flinched, but did not resist, though Shepard could clearly see how she had a gun concealed behind the desk in front of her.

Atlas leaned over to Shepard and whispered in his ear, "_I have an idea, follow my lead."_

"Alright," Atlas begun, "We shall keep you here until our investigation is done, if we find any evidence that you are involved in this, you go to the police, if we don't, we set you free. Dig?"

She stared at him, tears falling down her face, and then nodded.

The three walked backwards out of the room and locked it.

Shepard gave Atlas a questioning look, to which he replied "I'll explain later."

* * *

><p>Finally the three reached what seemed like the back of the facility, according to some notes salvaged from a terminal they had passed, Pitne For apparently had snuck in some poisonous chemicals along with some Red sand that he'd smuggled to the Sisters, no wonder they killed his friend.<p>

They came across another computer terminal with an audio file, Shepard played it.

The sound that came out brought a smile to Shepard's lips.

"Well, its official - little baby Elnora is now a fully-fledged Eclipse merc! I earned my uniform last night when I killed that ridiculous Volus. Up close, exploding rounds. Blew the little bastard's suit right open! Hah! I can't wait to see some real action! Next time I go home, my friends are going to be so jealous!"

Shepard switched the terminal off and downloaded the message as per Atlas's request, he clearly had something planned.

"That certainly sounds like that girl's voice…"

Shepard's thoughts were interrupted by a high-powered thermal clip flying an inch past his face and into the wall behind him. He looked up at the three uniformed sisters on a platform. Great, snipers.

The three leapt to cover behind a large shipping crate, one of the snipers had tried another shot at Shepard to make up for their previous shot, and she also missed, no longer holding the element of surprise.

Shepard and Wrex were holding position while Atlas had ran right in order to distract them, Shepard used the time to pop his head up and survey the battlefield, the snipers had come down from their vantage point but were still at the other end of the field, if they could get them into close quarters they'd more or less be in checkmate.

Atlas was already vaulting over crates to reach them, whilst dodging their high-powered bullets with the grace of a cat. Upon reaching them Shepard witnessed one of the most extraordinary things he'd ever laid eyes on. Atlas was standing opposite them at the bottom end of the field; he was covered in electricity, like he was… charging himself up? What the fuck was he doing?

The mercs had stopped to see what Atlas was doing; they had even put down their guns and were making their way over to him cautiously, idiots.

When they were close enough Atlas leapt 10ft into the air and showered them with bolts of yellow lightning! The three snipers collapsed immediately to the floor wriggling around from the shock. Atlas then proceeded to pull out his two revolvers and finish them off.

Shepard finally managed to get to Atlas, who was crouched over the mercs, kicking them with his boot to ensure they were dead; the smell of electrically burnt Asari was like a mixture of hot glue and burning stir-fry, odd.

Shepard realised upon reaching Atlas that his jaw was wide open from the spectacle he had witnessed, he had to manually shut his own jaw, he'd catch flies if he kept it open much longer.

"Okay Atlas, what the fuck was that?"

Atlas got to his feet "Look John, I know you're getting tired of this, but I'll explain when we're on the ship, I'll tell you everything, I promise. But right now we need to deal with The Sisterhood and get off of Illium. Wait 'til we get to the ship and all will be revealed."

* * *

><p>Atlas's P.O.V<p>

The place was crawling with mercs, Atlas had heard that the Eclipse Sisters were supposed to be some of the best The Eclipse had to offer; to say Atlas was disappointed would be an understatement.

Shepard has seen what he can do now, he's revealed too much, he believes that Shepard can be trusted with his story; they've been through a lot now. He deserves the truth.

At the end of the facility they reached Captain Wasea's office, the commander of the Sisterhood, Atlas never met her, but according to Jona Sederis she's "A spiteful bitch with the temper of a Thresher Maw in heat." Atlas was looking forward to making her acquaintance, and pissing her off in the process.

Upon arriving at the entrance to the Shipmaster's office a Volus stumbled out, wobbling and clearly unable to stand properly.

He tried to stand up steadily and ended up falling over. Atlas, in his disrespect for the Volus (and fat people in general) burst out laughing.

The Volus stood up and charged his biotics futilely.

"Don't laugh at me mortal! I am the physical and biotic embodiment of perfection! Feel my wrath!"

Atlas collapsed to the floor laughing, "H-he looks like a beach ball in a gimp suit!"

The Volus flared his biotics "Foolish mortal! Do you wish to anger me?! I may be short, but I can tear you apart with just a single thought with my superior biotics! Now fear me!"

The Volus charged at Atlas, biotics blazing before tripping over his other foot and falling over, and then passing out. His snore sounded like a freight train flying through a Metro.

Shepard raised an eyebrow before shaking his head, "Come on Atlas let's get going..."

Atlas grinned, "Right behind you, John."

* * *

><p>The three walked through the door and into Wasea's office, she was sat behind a desk atop a small dais overlooking the room, she had her legs perched up on the desk, reading a small data pad in her left hand.<p>

"So," she began "It's been quite a day, first some Volus shit-muncher sells us highly toxic chemicals along with our red sand, then some Justicar kills half of my best team, and now you. But at least I'll have the last laugh after I tear you asunder!" She screamed, after hurling a crate at them, Shepard and Wrex went right, Atlas went left.

Two more mercs who were presumably Wasea's personal guard came out of nowhere and flanked her on both sides; this was going to be one hell of a fight.

_Shepard's P.O.V_

Wasea had them under heavy fire; she had clearly invested in her own personal security, more than what could be said for the rest of her crew, Atlas was right. The Eclipse are a shambles these days.

Looking right Shepard could see Wrex had rugby tackled the guard on Wasea's right, Atlas had gone for the left, now was his chance.

Shepard charged at Wasea, who was too busy trying to shoot the massive piece of tree trunk that was Urdnot Wrex off of her comrade, Shepard activated his shotgun, a Mark II M-22 Eviscerator and shot at her repeatedly until her shields had ruptured, he then proceeded to swiftly kick her round the heels, knocking her to the floor. Shepard stood over her with his gun in her face; Wasea closed her eyes and waited for the clip on the other end of the barrel to turn her face into mincemeat.

Shepard was about to end this miserable merc's life when he pulled the trigger, and then cursed when he realised the clip was empty, only one word leapt to mind that could sum this whole thing up.

'Fuck.'

Wasea saw opportunity in this and flew her leg up to meet his groin with the end of her boot.

'Double-fuck!'

Shepard dropped the shotgun and collapsed to the floor covering his privates with both hands, a river of pain coursing through his body.

While Shepard was trying to protect what remained of his private parts and get his bearings, he then noticed Wasea had got on top of him and was now punching him in the chest, she had also ripped off his death mask. Her eyes widened in seeing who she was fighting, and then proceeded to hit him again. If she wanted a bitch fight, then Shepard was happy to oblige.

Shepard flew one punch with his left fist, that he had nicknamed 'Sir Francis Drake' straight into Wasea's temple, he missed and accidently got her in the shoulder, but caused her pain nonetheless, meanwhile his right fist, 'Jason O'Donnell' was guarding his face from Wasea's lightly feminine, but still painful fist-thrusts. It was a painful dance to the melody of hatred.

Wasea was stronger than she looked, while Shepard was too busy trying to shove the bitch off of him, she had clasped her gloved hands around his throat, the bitch was trying to strangle him!

Shepard's survival instincts started to burn within him with the rage of a thousand stars, adrenaline was pulsing through his form like alcohol in an Irishman's digestive system, forcing every last drop of his energy into his weak biotics, Shepard managed to turn the tables on Wasea and roley-poleyed her onto the floor, he was above her now, in her blind panic Wasea had softened her previously Boa-like grip on his neck and had her hands pinned to the floor.

It was a very intimate moment, only when Wasea had just stopped resisting did he get a chance to look into her beautiful eyes, she had very dark eyes, kind of like a French prostitute, (and this was Shepard speaking from personal experience) upon looking her properly in the face did he notice her elegant form, her slender arms and shoulders, her killer Asari curves, her predatory stare that made her look like she would stab him if she was just a little looser from his grip.

But she stared back; there was a bond between them, a bond that is only formed in the burning embers of combat. Warrior love.

She reached her head up to Shepard's; her face and lips was inches from his…

A gunshot, Wasea's face and head were now splattered all over Shepard's. Followed by the insane laughter of Mr. Cockblock himself.

Atlas.

"Sorry about that John, I was in the zone. And so were you by looks of things!"

'Motherfucker!'

Shepard looked up to see Atlas with his hand extended to help him up, his other hand holding the revolver the sent Wasea to the great and powerful Hades. Atlas was smiling away like a man who had just interrupted a porn-worthy intimacy, because he was.

Shepard looked up to see Wrex holding the data pad Wasea was previously holding, "Huh, says here that the ship that 'Ardat-Yakshi' was smuggled off in was called the 'AML Demeter' the fuck's a Demeter?"

* * *

><p><em>Atlas's P.O.V<em>

Atlas lead the party back through the now empty facility, but Wrex still kept his gun out, you had to admire that guy's vigilance.

Shepard had been bitching about him blowing Wasea's brains out all the way through, it was getting old.

"Look John, you and her would never work, I've worked with the Eclipse a long time and people of her position in that line of work aren't exactly the best choice for romance. After all the bad guys you've busted I'm surprised none of them actually tried the seduction card on you; it would've worked."

Shepard grunted "It's not about that Atlas, I looked like a blueberry has just exploded in my face! The moment you're about to kiss a hot chick not only am I going to blow their brains out, but I'll also record it and put it on YouTube, then who'll be laughing? Me!"

Atlas rolled his eyes, Shepard really got worked up over the smallest of things sometimes, about a week ago he walked into a door when he wasn't paying attention and actually shouted at the door! Dumbass.

They had made their way back to the room they were keeping the girl in, judging by the message in the recording they had picked up from earlier; her name was 'Elnora'. Pretty little name. It's useful they had found her really, she'll make this whole trip worthwhile. Hopefully.

They eventually came to see the door still shut, and by the looks of it having a red light on it, it was still locked.

Shepard shut off the containment lock and let the door slide open. Elnora was still there behind the desk, playing idly with her thumbs in fear. Atlas wasn't buying any of it, he could see the signs, the way she put lots if excursion to keep her innocent tone of voice up, the way she reacted to anything that was said to her, the bullshit crocodile tears from earlier. He knew she was guilty the moment he laid eyes on her.

"Find anything interesting?" she said, the realising her mistake, "Not that you would! I'm innocent!" she added hastily.

Atlas chuckled and snapped his fingers, Shepard nodded and switched the playback button on his Omni-Tool.

"Well it's official - little baby Elnora is now a fully-fledged Eclipse merc!" Shepard switched the off button.

Elnora reached for her gun that Atlas had seen earlier, she wasn't quick enough though, Atlas flipped his revolver out of his concealed holster so fast he was surprised his duster coat didn't catch fire, he then shot her gun straight out of her hands.

"You fight with the subtlety of a ninja, Elnora." Atlas said with a smile.

Elnora gritted her teeth in anger, "I won't go to the police! Do you know how pissed off my dad would get if he finds out I'm a criminal? I'd rather die than go to prison!"

Atlas put a finger to his lips. "Shut up now please, I'm willing to make you an offer, if I may be so bold?"

Elnora tapped her fingers on the desk in thought, clearly unsure of how this was all going to pan out. She then nodded.

"While you may think we're here on behalf of the authorities I can prove to you that we're not. That evidence will come later however as I'm not sure if you are trustworthy. So here's my proposition, you surrender quietly and come back to our ship, and work for us – For a sophisticated and organised cartel, not these rag-tag Eclipse bitches. In return you will be well-paid, and when you help us fulfil our quest, which we will fill you in on later. We will make sure every desire you ever had happens, we will give you everything Elnora."

Elnora simply stared, dumbfounded by such a promising and large offer, understandable, he basically just offered her everything her little heart could desire in exchange that she work for him.

"And what exactly do you want me to do?" she asked.

"Normal merc work," Shepard added, "We came here originally to recruit that Justicar to be our Biotics special officer, but it turns out… she's a Justicar."

Elnora nodded in understanding.

"So you guys want me as an officer for your crew or something? As nice as it sounds I'm not too sure I'm cut out to be a leader."

"We can discuss the terms of your job when we get out, let's just concentrate on leaving first shall we?"

Elnora nodded.

* * *

><p><em>Shepard's P.O.V<em>

Everything was coming up roses for them now, Shepard wasn't too sure is recruiting Elnora was the best choice, but it was better than nothing. And who knows? Maybe she'll prove to be a valuable asset after all.

Atlas had already gone and handed the data pad from earlier to Samara, who then merely nodded in gratitude, wished him well and took off.

Wrex managed to get a small amount of money in exchange for silence on Pitne For's part after he presented the trade manifest that held all of Pitne's red sand dealings with the Eclipse.

Shepard got the hardest job, convincing Anaya to let Elnora out of custody.

Anaya sat behind her desk, eyeing Shepard and Elnora like a bald eagle does to an unfortunate tortoise.

"So to summarise detective, It is my humble opinion that Elnora here be released from police custody as she wasn't directly involved with the murder of that Volus or the attack on Pitne For's trading company, she also did not resist when we took her."

Anaya narrowed her eyes "She wears the uniform of the Eclipse. That makes her completely eligible for arrest, even if she is innocent I'm afraid that my superiors would want her behind bars. The fact that she's a member of the Eclipse is more or less a crime alone."

Shepard leaned over the desk, "Well after we just got rid of the Justicar, effectively saving your life, I believe you owe me one."

Anaya stared him in the eye, when she realised he wasn't going to drop it, she simply sighed and held up her hands in surrender.

"Fine, fine. Get her out of my sight before I change my mind. That includes you, I don't know who you people are but I want you and this merc off of Illium by the end of today. Is that understood?"

Shepard and Elnora got from their seats. "Yes ma'am."

Shepard and Elnora left the police station to meet up with Wrex, Atlas and Thane, whom were still waiting patiently by the car. Upon approaching them Shepard stuck his thumb up, "We're off the hook!"

* * *

><p><em>Normandy boardroom, Aboard the Normandy, Illium orbit, 21:08<em>

"Holy shit! This is soooo cool! I get to work for the legendary criminal Atlas AND the rogue Spectre/Marine Shepard! I can't wait to tell my friends! Then they'll take me seriously!" she said with a grin.

Elnora then stopped and got control of herself, clearly embarrassed by how much of a groupie she looked.

Atlas then spoke up, "When you get a chance 'Nora, go and speak to the Salarian in Engineering, Lorne. He'll set you up with your new armour, something black. Yellow nauseates me.

Elnora nodded "Yeah, never much was my style anyway."

Shepard chuckled, "Right then, you and Thane can go and get settled into the ship hand's quarters, Atlas and I need to have a little chat, don't we Atlas?"

Thane and Elnora both nodded and walked out of the room in single-file.

Atlas was at the opposite end of the boardroom table, massaging his temples.

"Okay Shepard, I think it's time I told you a little more about myself, I think I can trust you now. Why my eyes glow to the point I need goggles, why I have kinetic-barrier generators grafted into my skin, why I can't even tell you my name and why I can shoot lightning from my hands like the almighty fuckin' Greek god Zeus!"

Shepard leaned closer.

Atlas sighed, "Okay John, are you ready to hear the craziest motherfucking story ever?"

Shepard nodded.

**(A/N) Plot twist! Yeah, I couldn't see Samara working with criminal masterminds, could you? Besides, I don't think she's exactly everyone's favourite Asari, that award goes to Aria or Liara. I hope you enjoy having Elnora around; I'll try and improvise her personality as much as I can. As I said previously, I will try to remain on my usual update routing, every week or two, but I can't make any promises as I have a lot of shit to do for the next few weeks. But I'll try, don't you worry.**

**Stay cool, and eat cheese every day.**

**Oh, one more thing. Merry Christmas!**


End file.
